The April 2022 Jobs Report: What is the Current U.S. Employment Situation?

The U.S. Department of Labor April jobs report for 2022 shows the job market is continuing its record of strong growth, while unemployment remains at its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  The BLS report includes data on employment, unemployment, industries hiring in 2022, wages, and other metrics that shed light on the U.S. employment situation.

According to the April jobs report, the labor market added 428,000 new jobs, modestly surpassing economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6% — just 0.1% lower than February 2020 — and the number of unemployed persons decreased slightly to 5.9 million. February 2020’s number of unemployed persons sat at 5.7 million.

Here are some other key statistics from the labor department jobs report:

• In April, 7.7% of employed persons teleworked because of the coronavirus pandemic, down from 10% in March.
• The number of people who were unable to work because of the pandemic declined by around 800,000 people, down to 1.7 million in April.

April’s job growth was widespread across most sectors. The industries with the highest increases were leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing. Here’s how industries were impacted in April:

Overall, 2022 has been a year of steady growth, and we’re almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Some economists predict we will fall below February 2020 unemployment numbers by this summer.

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