Another month and another strong jobs report with the topline number beating expectations in April, according o the Bureau of Labor Statistics…(BLS)
- Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 428,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6%.
- Economists had projected a smaller increase of 391k.
Leisure and hospitality continues to lead the way with 78,00 new jobs in April …
- Manufacturing had the second best month with 55,00 new jobs followed by transportation & warehousing (+52k), processional & business services (+41k), and financial services (+35k).
NOTE: Revisions this month were downward with a 36k drop in February and March was revised down by 3,000.
Wage growth continued to slow for both hourly and weekly earnings…
- HOURLY wages were up 0.3% in April to $31.85, this up 5.4% from one year ago.
- WEEKLY wages were also up 0.3% to $1,102.01, this up 4.5% from one year ago.
NOTE: Wage gains of 5.4% are well behind the latest CPI print of 8.5% and is even behind the Core CPI of 6.5%.
GOOD NEWS: The economy has created almost 2 million jobs this year which means that 95% of the jobs are back that we lost during the shutdown.
The reaction seemed to be similar to what we are seeing with the housing market. It is still hot, but not as hot as it used to be…
- Ben Casselman: My main takeaway as I dig through the numbers: This report is basically what we expected. The job market is very hot, but perhaps not *quite* as frenzied as a few months ago. Job and wage growth both very strong but modestly decelerating.(Twitter)
- Heather Long: Notable: Hiring is starting to show a more “normal” economy.”(Twitter)