White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “more winning is on the way” after the better-than-expected jobs report on Friday.
Leavitt touted the Department of Labor’s report detailing that 177,000 workers were added to payrolls last month.
“This is the second month in a row where the jobs report has beat expectations,” Leavitt said in a statement. “Wages are continuing to rise and labor force participation is increasing. This is exactly what we want to see. More Americans working for higher wages. More winning is on the way!”
Economists expected 130,000 added jobs in April. Meanwhile, unemployment remained at 4.2 percent, the same as March. Breitbart News economics editor John Carey pointed out that the vast majority of April’s jobs came through the private sector:
The strength in hiring came from the private sector, which added 167,000 jobs. Economists had expected private employers to add just 125,000 workers. This was nearly unchanged from the downwardly revised 170,000 jobs added in March.
The labor market drew in more workers, growing the supply of labor in April. The participation rate rose to 62.6 percent from 62.5 in the previous month. The number of people employed in the month rose by 436,000 to 163,944,000.
The average workweek expanded to 34.3 hours from 34.2 hours, a sign that employer demand for labor grew in the month. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent. Compared with a year ago, average earnings are up 3.8 percent, significantly higher than the 2.4 percent gain in the consumer price index through March.
According to the White House, 70,000 workers were added to payrolls in private educational and health services, while 29,000 were added in transportation and warehousing. The leisure and hospitality industries saw 24,000 workers added to payrolls, while financial activities added 14,000. At the same time, hourly wages have increased by four percent since May 2024.
