Legal Sector Jobs Dip Even as Employment Nationally Improves

U.S. legal services employment registered a small job dip in March, diverging from a strong rise last month.

Legal payrolls in March were down a seasonally adjusted 1,400 jobs, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. The decline followed the addition of 7,200 jobs in February and 4,800 in January.

The figures continue the up-and-down nature of the past year for employment in law firms and other offices that hire lawyers amid some recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic damage. The sector’s total employment remains at a little over 1 million employees, about the same as a year ago.

Some workers ...