The April Jobs Report: What is the Current US Employment Situation?

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly look at the US employment situation and the data for April looks very promising. The labor department jobs report examines a range of US jobs data to gauge the overall health of the US economy, specifically the number of jobs added, the unemployment rate, and what industries are hiring now.

Before we get to the April jobs report, let’s revisit March’s US job numbers. Last month, the BLS reported that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 196,000 jobs while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8% (approximately 6.2 million professionals). A deeper look at the US jobs data and industries hiring in 2019 showed moderate growth in a few areas while others declined or registered no change at all.

• Health care – 49,000 jobs added
• Professional and technical services – 34,000 jobs added
• Food services and drinking places – 27,000 jobs added
• Construction – 16,000 jobs added
• Manufacturing – 6,000 jobs lost
• Leisure and hospitality, retail trade, transportation and warehousing – no change

The April jobs report continues a positive trend for the US employment situation report. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 263,000 and unemployment fell to 3.6%. Here are some other highlights of the labor department jobs report:

• The number of long-term unemployed declined slightly to 1.2 million, accounting for 21.1% of all unemployed workers.
• The labor force participation rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 62.8%.
• The number of people employed part time for economic reasons (AKA involuntary part-time workers) rose by approximately 200,000 for the second month in a row and now totals 4.7 million.
• Average hourly earnings for all employees on nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents to $27.77 after a 4-cent increase in March and an 11-cent increase in February.

April saw modest growth for a few industries hiring in 2019. Professional and business services added 76,000 jobs, construction added 33,000 jobs, health care added 27,000 jobs, and social assistance employment rose by 26,000 jobs. Manufacturing experienced minimal growth (4,000 jobs added), while retail employment fell by 12,000 jobs. Key industries like leisure and hospitality, wholesale trade, and transportation and warehousing saw no change.

Overall, the labor department jobs report suggests the economy is in good shape. Whether you’re looking for top talent or searching for your dream job, there’s still plenty of opportunity out there, and you can find it on iHire.

For more information on how the BLS tracks and updates US job numbers and calculates the unemployment rate, check out this informative post on FiveThirtyEight.