At first glance, the March jobs report seemed like a welcome breath of relief. The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%—numbers strong enough to beat expectations and revive a sense of cautious optimism after a difficult year. It was the kind of headline that suggests resilience, even progress. But beneath that surface, the story begins to shift. Economists were quick to point out that this improvement came with a troubling caveat. The unemployment rate did not fall because more Americans found work—it fell because many simply stopped looking. Across the country, prime working-age men,