Topline
The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected again in April, even as total employment reached its lowest level in more than a year, according to federal data published Friday, as additional data point to a stabilizing job market that clashes with stubborn inflation.
Data pointing to a stabilized job market clashes with stubborn inflation.
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Key Facts
The U.S. added 115,000 nonfarm jobs in April, as the unemployment rate remained at 4.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, surpassing consensus estimates of 65,000 new jobs, according to FactSet.
That matches the growth for the revised-up 185,000 jobs added in March, which marked a turnaround from the revised-down 156,000 jobs shed in February and the largest single-month job growth since December 2024.
But total employment in the U.S. decreased to 162.6 million, the lowest since December 2024 (161.6 million), indicating employment growth of just 0.6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey.
Total employment declined for the fourth-straight month, the longest such streak since 2009.
The labor participation rate, or the percentage of Americans working or looking for work, dropped again to 61.8%, the lowest rate since 2021.
What Sectors Added—and Lost—the Most Jobs In April?
Transportation and warehousing employment rose by 30,000 in April, after falling 105,000 since February 2025, trailing the 37,000 jobs added by health care, with further gains from retail (22,000), building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (13,000). Since peaking in October 2024, federal government employment is down 348,000 (11.5%) after declining by 9,000 in April. Information services lost 13,000 jobs in the month, adding to a steady decline for the sector since November 2022 (down 342,000 jobs) as AI has disrupted employers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
Private Sector Job Market Showed Signs Of Stabilizing
Private-sector payrolls rose by 109,000 in April, the payroll processing firm ADP reported on Wednesday, surpassing projections for 107,500. That’s the most in a single month since March 2025, as education and health services once again accounted for most of April’s job growth, adding 61,000 roles. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees added 65,000 jobs in the month, and larger employers, or companies with 500 workers or more, added 42,000, despite businesses in between adding just 2,000.
Big Number
83,387. That’s how many jobs were cut in April, a 38% month-over-month increase from March, according to data published Thursday by the career services firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. About 26% of those layoffs were blamed on AI, making the technology the leading reason for layoffs for the second year in a row and the third-leading cause of layoff plans this year.
Key Background
A previous report on the U.S. job market added to further data indicating steady employment, as federal data showed companies reducing the number of employees they hired while lowering the number of workers they laid off. Employment growth has largely accelerated this year because of health care, which accounted for more than half of March’s job growth after a broader worker strike in February. Through March, the health care industry added 380,000 jobs over the previous year, compared to the 260,000 jobs across all other industries. A stabilizing job market contrasts with inflation, which was heavily affected by higher energy costs stemming from the Iran war. Consumer prices rose 3.3% annually in March, adding nearly a full percentage point to inflation for the first time since April 2021, as gas prices rose about 19%.