The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent, indicating an economy that has continued to accelerate.
Economists had forecast the economy would add 55,000 workers, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the unemployment rate would remain unchanged.
The estimate for February was revised down by 23,000 to a loss of 156,000. The March rebound, however, was revised up by 7,000 from a gain of 178,000 to185,000. The labor market has been volatile, with some months showing big expansions in payrolls and other showing job losses, as the economy has adjusted to slower growth in the labor supply. April marks the first back-to-back monthly gain in around a year.
Once again, the private sector was the driver of job growth. The private sector’s payrolls expanded by 123,000. From a year ago, private sector employment is up by more than half a million.
Reflecting President Donald Trump’s efforts to reprivatize the U.S. economy, public employment declined by 8,000. State and local payrolls inched up while federal government payrolls shrank by 9,000. Since reaching a peak under Joe Biden, federal government employment is down by 348,000, or 11.5 percent.
Health care and social assistance expanded by 53,900 jobs, once again coming in as the fastest-growing sector. Health care added 37,000.
Durable goods manufacturing expanded by 2,000 jobs and non-durable goods manufacturing contracted by 4,000. Tech employment continued to decline, likely reflecting the influence of artificial intelligence. In April, payrolls shrank by 13,000. Information employment is down by 342,000, or 11.0 percent, since its most recent peak in November 2022.
Hollywood’s strugglers continued to weigh on jobs. Motion picture and sound recording businesses shed 6,000 jobs in April.
Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 30,000 in April but is still below the February 2025 peak.
The government said employment increased in warehouse clubs, supercenters, general merchandise retailers, building material and garden equipment, and supplies dealers. Jobs declined at electronics stores and department stores. Overall, retail added 21,800 jobs.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $37.41. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.6 percent, significantly above the rate of inflation. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 11 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.23.
The labor market in the U.S. has experienced a significant shift away from dependence on an immigration-driven workforce. Jobs numbers that may seem anemic compared with recent years may actually indicate healthy—even robust—growth under current conditions, according to economists.Many economists now estimate the so-called “break-even” rate of job growth—the rate required to keep unemployment from rising—may be as low as zero. By contrast, when immigration was running at higher levels from 2021 through 2024, the economy needed to add more than 100,000 jobs monthly to keep pace with labor-force growth.
Retirements are also driving down the growth of the labor force, as an increasing number of members of the large baby boom generation leave work and, later, smaller generations fail to fully replace them.
