Economy Gains 428,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Steady at 3.6%

The U.S. economy gained 428,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continuing strong job creation numbers are a clear sign that the worker-friendly policies implemented by President Biden are having a positive impact on working people.

In response to the April job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

But the share of Black men who are employed also climbed in April to 64.7% from 64.1 in March. This shows how the unemployment rate can be misleading on whether the labor market is tight. Workers who face hiring frictions are sensitive to actual hiring to get into the search. 2/2

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

And as @abhabhattarai reported, older Americans who face the friction of age discrimination in hiring, are coming back out of retirement to rejoin the labor force. There is more slack in the labor market than the unemployment rate is showing. 2/2 https://t.co/39O7fHKaUL

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

Fortunately, the share of the unemployed who have been unemployed more than 27 weeks is declining. The long term unemployed are very heterogenous, this not a simple case of less educated and younger workers. But, it shows how tough the labor market remains for many Americans. pic.twitter.com/aRE0fqS4Da

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

Women gained 278,000 of April’s payroll gain, and made relative gains in the higher wage sectors of mining and durable goods manufacturing. and in the public the sector. Women are half the workforce, so the labor market recovery has to include them. @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/y8BrSVfwTN

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

Of the 6.29 million people who stepped into the labor force in April from March, 4.72 million found jobs, a success rate of 75%. And of those 6.39 million who landed employment in April from March, those 4.72 million from not in the labor force were 74%. Watch the LFP carefully. pic.twitter.com/FDn9Q0VEwL

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

The modest wage growth is a key reminder as @joshbivens_DC has pointed out: prices are being driven by supply shock induced non-labor costs and companies taking bigger price mark-ups boosting higher profits. Don’t blame the labor market for inflation. 2/2 https://t.co/PKFdrxy4cM

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

The continued slow recovery in employment at the sate and local government level is very disturbing. It is like governors are trying to defund schools, libraries, recreation departments, colleges. We are having the wrong “defund” debate taking place. @AFTunion @AFSCME pic.twitter.com/rwGU8jfhZH

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

To put the employment drag of the public sector shown in today’s #JobsReport in perspective, not only are we seeing a defund the schools movement keep employment down, we are keeping the pay of teachers down, too. https://t.co/RmUCti7QId

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

The payroll employment numbers for February and March were both updated and lowered in this @BLS_gov April #JobsReport down 36,000 in February and 3,000 in March. It means the numbers of net firm creation is close but a tiny bit rosy. It also means job gains are not accelerating.

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 6, 2022

Last month’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+78,000), manufacturing (+55,000), transportation and warehousing (+52,000), professional and business services (+41,000), financial activities (+35,000), health care (+34,000), retail trade (+29,000), wholesale trade (+22,000) and mining (+9,000). Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, information, other services and government.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for teenagers (10.2%), Black Americans (5.9%), Hispanics (4.1%), adult men (3.5%), adult women (3.2%), White Americans (3.2%) and Asian Americans (3.1%) showed little or no change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed in April and accounted for 25.2% of the total unemployed.