The US unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent in April, even as the number of new jobs slowed and more people quit looking for work, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said Friday.
The figures added to worries about a sluggish recovery as job
growth remains stagnant and more people withdrew from the workforce
ahead of November elections, in which President Barack Obama hopes to
win another four-year term.
Obama welcomed the increase in private sector jobs and the
downtick in unemployment Friday, but noted, "There are still a lot of
folks out of work, which means that we've got to do more."
He called on Congress to follow through on his proposal to
accelerate job growth.
"My message to Congress is going to be: Just saying 'no' to ideas
that will create new jobs is not an option," he said in a speech to
high school students on the need to keep interest rates low on
student loans to pay for university. "There's too much at stake for
us not to all be rowing in the same direction."
Republican rival Mitt Romney has taken Obama to task over the high
unemployment rate, saying the president has not taken the right track
to improve the economy.
"Clearly the American people are wondering why this recovery isn't
happening faster, why it's taking years and years for the recovery to
occur and we seem to be slowing down, not speeding up," Romney said.
"This is not progress; this is very, very disappointing and a lot of
American people are having very hard times and this is not good news
this morning."
The unemployment figure was down slightly from March, when it
stood at 8.2 per cent.
The economy added 115,000 jobs in April, the smallest gain in six
months. The number of new jobs added fell far short of economists'
estimates of an anticipated 160,000 jobs.
The government revised upward its figure for jobs gained in March
to 154,000 from an earlier estimate of 120,000.
Jobs were added in professional and business services, retail and
health care, while the number of positions in transportation and
warehousing fell, the bureau said.
Unemployment has fallen steadily over the past several months
after remaining near 9 per cent for much of last year, but worries
about the number of long-term unemployed and those leaving the
workforce altogether continue to cast a shadow over the economy.
University of Maryland economist Peter Morici noted that the added
jobs were not enough to keep up with population growth and came as
another 522,000 adults withdrew from the workforce.
"In the weakest recovery since the Great Depression more than
four-fifths of the reduction in unemployment has been accomplished by
a dropping adult labor force participation rate - essentially,
persuading adults they don't need a job, or the job they could find
is not worth having," he said.
The US central bank has indicated it expects unemployment to weigh
heavily on economic growth for some time.
