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Unemployment hits another 50-year low in April
In response to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealing 253,000 jobs were added in April and that there was an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent, NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long said the report “established yet another 50-year low for the unemployment rate.”
“Significant downward revisions to prior month job gains temper the outlook,” said Long, referencing the downward revision of the March number by 71,000. “However, flows from employment to unemployed status did not rise appreciably, and the number of workers unemployed for under 5 weeks dropped, suggesting that there were not broad-scale layoffs last month.”
Results among private sector industries were mostly positive. Education and health saw the largest gains (+77,000), followed by Professional and business services (+43,000). Additionally, no major sectors lost jobs during April.
Average hourly earnings grew 0.5 percent in April and year-over-year wage growth accelerated to 4.4 percent. In the Macro Data Flash report, Long noted “this report shows that despite threats from the debt ceiling standoff and banking sector stress, the real economy keeps motoring along. Meanwhile, the absence of a major inflationary impulse will reassure the Fed that it can safely pause rate hikes.”
Access more of NAFCU’s economic analyses online.