Hold up, the US economy just threw everyone a curveball. The job market added 178,000 positions in March, absolutely crushing economists’ predictions of just 60,000 new jobs. Yeah, you read that right. The unemployment rate also dipped to 4.3%, down from 4.4% the previous month, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is actually a big deal for a few reasons. After February’s brutal reality check, when the economy shed 133,000 jobs, people were genuinely nervous about where things were headed. March’s numbers suggest businesses weren’t hitting the panic button just yet and were still willing to bring people on board.

But here’s where it gets a little complicated. A chunk of those job gains came from workers returning to their posts after strikes. Specifically, around 32,000 formerly striking employees at Kaiser Permanente and Starbucks were back on the job by early March. So while the headline number looks stellar, the underlying story is a bit more nuanced than pure business confidence.

The timing is also worth paying attention to. This jobs report represents one of the first major economic signals since the US-Israeli war with Iran began escalating. March’s employment numbers likely aren’t reflecting any impacts from the conflict yet, the timing just didn’t line up. But economists are keeping a close eye on what comes next. The real question is whether the labor market and the broader economy can stay resilient if the Middle East situation continues to intensify. That’s the wildcard nobody really wants to think about right now.

For young people in the Bay Area trying to figure out whether now’s a good time to job hunt or make a career move, this data suggests there’s still hiring happening out there. The market’s showing signs of life, even if some of those gains come with asterisks. The bigger picture, though? Everyone’s watching to see how international tensions might change the trajectory of what’s been a pretty resilient job market so far.

Economists will be analyzing these numbers closely in the coming weeks, especially as we get more data about how the conflict is actually impacting businesses and hiring decisions. For now, the March jobs report is giving us a brief moment of good news, we’ll just have to wait and see if it holds.