Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 253,000 in April as the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 179,000 jobs.
- The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised down by 78,000 to 248,000, and the change for March was revised down by 71,000 to 165,000. With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 149,000 lower than previously reported.
- Professional and business services added 43,000 jobs in April, employment in health care increased by 40,000, Leisure and hospitality added 31,000 jobs, and government rose by 23,000.
- Employment was little changed over the month in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and other services.
- In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.016 to $33.36.
- The average workweek for all private employees was unchanged at 34.4 hours.
- The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.6% and is 0.7% below its February 2020 level.
- In April, the unemployed population dipped to 5.67 million but job openings also fell to 9.6 million in March.