U.S. employers created 253,000 jobs in April and the nation’s unemployment rate dipped slightly to 3.4%, the federal government reported on Friday.
The robust hiring exceeded economists’ expectations and significantly outpaced the 165,000 jobs that were created in March. The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point from March’s 3.5% rate and the labor force participation rate (62.6%) remained unchanged.
Average hourly wages ($33.36) last month were 4.4% higher than in April of 2022 despite the 14-month effort by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation by raising a key interest rate 10 times.
The upswing in hiring during April was seen across a wide range of industries. Leading the way in job growth were education and health services (+77,000), professional and business services (+43,000), leisure and hospitality (+31,000) and financial activities (+23,000).
The construction industry gained 15,000 jobs in April, reversing the loss of 11,000 construction jobs in March. Manufacturing jobs increased by 11,000 in April, reversing the loss of 8,000 manufacturing jobs the month prior. Transportation and warehousing jobs increased by 10,600 and retail jobs increased by 7,700 in April.
Stocks rallied in early trading on Friday after the latest jobs report was released, despite investors’ concerns about how the news of robust hiring will influence the Federal Reserve’s next move at its June meeting. On May 3, two days before the latest jobs report was released, the Fed raised a key interest rate another quarter of a percentage point but signaled it might suspend future hikes because of the ongoing turmoil in the banking sector.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April Employment Situation report also revised the previous preliminary employment numbers for February from 326,000 to 248,000. The March employment numbers were also revised downward from 236,000 to 165,000.
