The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, more than twice the figure estimated by analysts. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted.
Over 25% of the gains came from the healthcare sector, which added 37,000 roles. The transportation and warehousing sectors followed, increasing by 30,000 jobs. The retail industry gained 22,000 jobs.
The report also showed revisions to previous figures. February’s was revised down to negative 156,000, while March’s added 7,000 jobs.
The document also showed that hourly wages increased by 3.6% compared to April last year.
A cloudy aspect of the report was the number of people employed part time, which increased by 445,000 to 4.9 million. “These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs,” BLS said.
“Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; financial activities; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services,” the entity added.
The report comes a day after ADP data showed that private companies’ hiring also exceeded expectations in April.
Concretely, companies added 109,000 jobs last month, compared to the 84,000 expected by the Dow Jones consensus. The figure is an increase from March’s 61,000 and the best monthly figure since January 2025.
CNBC detailed that education and health services dominated the increase, adding 61,000 jobs between the two. Construction added 10,000 payrolls and trade, transportation and utilities 25,000.
Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist noted that practically all the jobs were either added by companies with fewer than 50 employees or more than 500. “Small and large employers are hiring, but we’re seeing softness in the middle,” she said.
“Large companies have resources to deploy, and small ones are the most nimble, both important advantages in a complex labor environment,” she added.
The figure follows the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS, which also showed that hiring jumped to its strongest level in more than a year.
Concretely, employers posted 6.866 million job openings on the last business day of March, down slightly from 6.922 million in February.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics described the number of openings as “unchanged” at 6.9 million. “This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, and by establishment size class,” the Bureau wrote.
Employers made 5.554 million hires in March, up by 655,000 from February, while the hire rate rose to 3.5% from 3.1%. That was the highest level of gross hiring since February 2024. Job openings have fallen steadily from the record 12.3 million peak reached in March 2022, when employers were trying to rebuild after the pandemic shock. Layoffs also increased in March, rising by 153,000 to 1.867 million. The layoffs and discharge rate climbed to 1.2% from 1.1% in February.
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