The U.S. employment report released Friday showed 165,000 new jobs were added in April, an improvement over the 88,000 jobs added in March, but not too rosy.
The unemployment rate, at 7.5 percent, changed little in April but has declined
by 0.4 percent since January. The number of unemployed -- 11.7 million -- also
changed little over the month, although unemployment has decreased by 673,000
since January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The unemployment rate for adult women, which was 6.7 percent, declined in April,
while the rates for adult men (7.1 percent), teenagers (24.1 percent), whites
(6.7 percent), blacks (13.2 percent), Asians (5.1 percent), and Hispanics (9
percent) showed little or no change.
Economists were expecting another bleak jobs report. Over the past year, the
U.S. economy has added an average of 159,000 jobs a month, which indicates that
hiring is slow -- and not enough to bring the unemployment rate down
significantly, experts say.
In April, the number of long-term unemployed -- those jobless for 27 weeks or
more -- declined by 258,000 to 4.4 million; their share of the unemployed
declined by 2.2 percentage points to 37.4 percent. Over the past 12 months, the
number of long-term unemployed has decreased by 687,000.
In April, the number of persons employed part time for economic reasons --
sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers -- increased by 278,000
to 7.9 million, largely offsetting a decrease in March. These individuals were
working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were
unable to find a full-time job, the government said.
The jobs gains came in professional and business services, food services and
bars and restaurants, retail and health care.
Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking
establishments rose by 38,000 over the month. Job growth in the food services
industry averaged 25,000 per month over the prior 12 months.
Retail employment increased by 29,000 in April. The industry added an average of
21,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months.
Health care added 19,000 jobs in April. Over the last 12 months, job growth in
health care averaged 24,000 per month.
Employment was little changed in April in construction, and manufacturing
employment was unchanged in April.
Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, wholesale
trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and government,
also showed little change over the month.
