The April jobs report showed the US labor market remains robust with more than a quarter million new jobs added to the economy last month as the unemployment rate fell to match its lowest level since 1969.
The US economy added 253,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month with the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropping to 3.4%, matching the level seen in January of this year which was the lowest since May 1969. Economists had expected the report to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 185,000 last month while the unemployment was forecast to rise to 3.6%.
Here are the key numbers from the report compared to estimates from Bloomberg:
Nonfarm payrolls: +253,000 vs. +185,000 expected
Unemployment rate: 3.4% vs. 3.6% expected
Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.5% vs. +0.3% expected
Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +4.4% vs. +4.2% expected
Average weekly hours worked: 34.4 vs. 34.4 expected
Friday's jobs report comes after the Federal Reserve voted this week to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 0.25%, bringing the fed funds rate above 5% for the first time since September 2007.
In raising rates on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jay Powell said the labor market remains "very tight," but noted "there are some signs that supply and demand in the labor market are coming back into better balance," pointing to an uptick in participation among prime age workers (or those 25-54), as well as moderating wage gains and a drop in job openings.
"But overall," Powell added, "labor demand still substantially exceeds the supply of available workers."