The following is a summary, for the full report click here.
Key Highlights:
- Employment Growth: Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 175,000 in April, marking a decrease from the average monthly gain of 242,000 over the previous year.
- Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate remained stable at 3.9%, continuing a trend within the 3.7% to 3.9% range since August 2023.
- Sectoral Insights: Significant job gains were reported in health care, social assistance, and transportation and warehousing.
Sector-Specific Developments:
- Health Care: Added 56,000 jobs, consistent with recent trends.
- Social Assistance: Increased by 31,000 jobs, led by gains in individual and family services.
- Transportation and Warehousing: Increased by 22,000 jobs, with notable rises in couriers and messengers, and warehousing and storage.
- Retail Trade: Continued to trend up with a 20,000 job increase across various sub-sectors.
- Construction and Government: Saw minimal changes in employment numbers.
Economic Indicators:
- Labor Force Participation: Remained unchanged at 62.7%.
- Employment-Population Ratio: Also showed little change, standing at 60.2%.
- Part-Time Employment: 4.5 million individuals were employed part-time for economic reasons, showing no significant change from the previous month.
- Average Earnings: Average hourly earnings increased slightly by $0.07 to $34.75, reflecting a 3.9% increase year-over-year.
Demographic Insights:
- Unemployment Variations: There were mixed changes among demographic groups; for instance, the unemployment rate for adult men rose slightly, while the rate for Blacks decreased.
- Long-Term Unemployment: Remained steady with 1.3 million individuals classified as long-term unemployed.
