Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in
April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and
business services, health care, and financial activities. Job losses continued
in mining.
Household Survey
Data
In April, the unemployment rate held at 5.0 percent, and
the number of unemployed persons was little changed at 7.9 million. Both
measures have shown little movement since August. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for
Hispanics increased to 6.1 percent in April, while the rates for adult men (4.6
percent), adult women (4.5 percent), teenagers (16.0 percent), Whites (4.3
percent), Blacks (8.8 percent), and Asians (3.8 percent) showed little or no
change. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27
weeks or more) declined by 150,000 to 2.1 million in April. These individuals
accounted for 25.7 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)
In April, the labor force participation rate decreased to
62.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio edged down to 59.7 percent.
(See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic
reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged
in April at 6.0 million and has shown little movement since November. These
individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find
a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
In April, 1.7 million persons were marginally attached to
the labor force, down by 400,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 568,000
discouraged workers in April, down by 188,000 from a year earlier. (The data
are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The
remaining 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in April
had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family
responsibilities. (See table A-16.)
Establishment
Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in
April. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 232,000 per
month. In April, employment gains occurred in professional and business
services, health care, and financial activities, while mining continued to lose
jobs. (See table B-1.)
Professional and business services added 65,000 jobs in
April. The industry added an average of 51,000 jobs per month over the prior 12
months. In April, job gains occurred in management and technical consulting
services (+21,000) and in computer systems design and related services
(+7,000).
In April, health care employment rose by 44,000, with
most of the increase occurring in hospitals (+23,000) and ambulatory health
care services (+19,000). Over the year, health care employment has increased by
502,000.
Employment in financial activities rose by 20,000 in
April, with credit intermediation and related activities (+8,000) contributing
to the gain. Financial activities has added 160,000 jobs over the past 12
months.
Mining employment continued to decline in April (-7,000).
Since reaching a peak in September 2014, employment in mining has decreased by
191,000, with more than three-quarters of the loss in support activities for
mining.
Employment in other major industries, including
construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and
warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and government, showed
little or no change over the month.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in April. The manufacturing
workweek and overtime remained unchanged at 40.7 hours and 3.3 hours,
respectively. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees
on private nonfarm payrolls was up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2
and B-7.)
In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on
private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents to $25.53, following an increase
of 6 cents in March. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5
percent. In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory
employees increased by 5 cents to $21.45. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for
February was revised from +245,000 to +233,000, and the change for March was
revised from +215,000 to +208,000. With these revisions, employment gains in
February and March combined were 19,000 less than previously reported. Over the
past 3 months, job gains have averaged 200,000 per month.
Source: BLS
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