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- New data out Friday shows the job market is doing well.
- The US saw nonfarm payroll employment jump by 253,000 in April, greater than the revised gain in March.
- The unemployment rate ticked down in April; the rate was 3.4%.
Job creation was stronger in April than expected after recent cooling.
The US added 253,000 nonfarm payrolls in April, according to data out Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job growth was expected to majorly cooldown from the growth experienced in March. The growth forecast was 180,000. However, March saw a massive revision.
March's nonfarm payroll employment growth was revised from 236,000 to 165,000. February's growth was also revised from 326,000 to 248,000.
Private education and health services saw a job gain of 77,000 in April. Professional and business services also saw a robust job gain of 43,000. While retail trade saw a small boost in employment, with a gain of 7,700, wholesale trade saw a small decline. That industry saw employment fall by 2,200.
The unemployment rate has continued to stay historically low. The unemployment rate in April was 3.4% after March's rate of 3.5%. The unemployment rate forecast for April was 3.6%.
The labor force participation rate was 62.6% in April, same as it was in March. The news release on Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also noted that the employment-population ratio didn't change in April. It was 60.4% again.
The prime-age employment-population ratio, or the share of people aged 25 to 54 with a job, ticked up from 80.7% in March to 80.8% in April. As Nick Bunker, the head of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab, pointed out in his commentary following Friday's report, the last time the ratio was this high was back in May 2001.
Additionally, Bunker said in his commentary that the "labor force participation rate for workers ages 25 to 54 hit a level previously seen in March 2008."
Average hourly earnings also climbed from March to April, increasing by 16 cents. With the average as of April at $33.36, that's 4.4% higher than a year ago.
Additionally, job openings have recently been cooling. Job openings dropped by 384,000 in March to 9.6 million. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities saw openings fall by 144,000 to 435,000 in March. Professional and business services as well as retail trade saw large declines from February to March.
Layoffs and discharges also soared by 248,000 to 1.8 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Tuesday. Construction saw a large uptick among major industries, surging by 112,000. Leisure and hospitality also saw a large increase in layoffs and discharges, increasing by 74,000.
Additionally, while inflation has been cooling, it's still above the Fed's 2% goal. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates again by 25 basis points this week, as expected.
"Reducing inflation is likely to require a period of below-trend growth and some softening of labor market conditions," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference on Wednesday. "Restoring price stability is essential to set the stage for achieving maximum employment and stable prices over the longer run."
Powell also noted how the job market is doing at the press conference. He said the "labor market remains very tight" and that "labor demand still substantially exceeds the supply of available workers."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.