The April jobs report showed the US labor market remains robust, with more than a quarter million new jobs added to the economy last month as the unemployment rate fell to match its lowest level since May 1969.
The US economy added 253,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, with the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropping to 3.4%, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday.
Economists had expected the report to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 185,000 last month while the unemployment rate was forecast to rise to 3.6%.
Here are the key numbers from the report compared to estimates from Bloomberg:
Nonfarm payrolls: +253,000 vs. +185,000 expected
Unemployment rate: 3.4% vs. 3.6% expected
Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.5% vs. +0.3% expected
Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +4.4% vs. +4.2% expected
Average weekly hours worked: 34.4 vs. 34.4 expected
Friday's jobs report also showed wage growth remained stronger than forecast in April, with wages rising 4.4% over the prior year, an acceleration from the gains seen in March.
Employment gains in March, however, were revised lower to show 165,000 jobs were created during the month, 71,000 fewer than previously reported. February's job gains were also revised lower — to 248,000 from 326,000 — making job growth over that two month stretch lower than previously reported by 149,000.
With these revisions, job gains over the last six months have averaged 290,000.
By industry, the largest gains in Friday's data were seen in education and healthcare services, which added 77,000 workers last month.
Business services employment rose by 41,000 in April, while leisure & hospitality jobs, which have been a huge driver of much of the labor market's rebound since the pandemic, increased by 31,000.
Construction and manufacturing jobs rose by 15,000 and 11,000 in April, respectively.
As noted by Bloomberg's Alexandra Semenova, April marks the 13th-straight month reported job gains from the BLS came in higher than had been forecast by Wall Street economists.
"The labor market surprisingly remains hot and tight as indicated by a trifecta of strength reported in the three key categories in April — employment, the unemployment rate, and average hourly earnings," Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic said in an email on Friday.
"The strong performance of the labor market dampens expectations of an immediate recession, but it also should reduce the market expectations of rate cuts unfolding as soon as the third quarter."
Friday's jobs report also comes after the Federal Reserve voted this week to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 0.25%, bringing the fed funds rate above 5% for the first time since September 2007.
In raising rates on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jay Powell said the labor market remains "very tight," but noted "there are some signs that supply and demand in the labor market are coming back into better balance," pointing to an uptick in participation among prime age workers (or those 25 to 54), as well as moderating wage gains and a drop in job openings.
"But overall," Powell added, "labor demand still substantially exceeds the supply of available workers."
In an email following Friday's data, Andrew Hunter, deputy chief US economist at Capital Economics, said: "We doubt [Friday's data] will have the Fed reconsidering its plans for a pause given the wider evidence that labor market conditions are cooling."
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