U.S. Added 263,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Rate at 3.6% - The New York Times

The Labor Department released the April data on hiring and unemployment on Friday morning, providing an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the economy.

The Numbers

263,000 jobs were created last month. Analysts had expected a gain of 190,000 jobs, according to Bloomberg.

The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, the lowest level of the 10-year recovery, down from 3.8 percent in March.
Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent, which follows an increase of 0.1 percent in March. Over the last 12 months, earnings have risen by a healthy 3.2 percent.

The Takeaway

Employers added 263,000 jobs last month, underscoring the economy’s resilience after some analysts had feared earlier in the year that a slowdown was coming.

The latest data suggest that the economy is showing steady growth, and provides a talking point for Republicans and President Trump as the 2020 presidential campaign nears.

[Here’s a primer on where the numbers come from and what they mean.]

Payrolls have now risen for 104 quarters in a row, and the economy has created more than 20 million jobs since the Great Recession ended in 2009.

“Growth will slow but there’s very little in the data flow to suggest a recession is around the corner,” said Michael Gapen, chief United States economist at Barclays. “Employment growth is solid.”

“Some people are tempted to say slow growth is fragile,” Mr. Gapen said. “We’ve been on the other side, saying that slow growth is durable.”

Sunnier Skies?

After a round of jitters in late 2018 and early this year, investors and consumers have been feeling more confident about the economy’s trajectory.

Last week, the Commerce Department reported that the economy expanded at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter, well above forecasts. And on Thursday, the government said factory orders jumped 1.9 percent in March, the best monthly showing since August 2018.

Stocks have rallied sharply this year as recession fears have dimmed, with the seeming return of the not-too-hot, not-too-cold scenario favored by traders. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve essentially endorsed that view by leaving interest rates unchanged and reiterating that it was comfortable with where rates stood.

“It appears that risks have moderated somewhat,” the Fed chairman, Jerome H. Powell, said. “Our outlook, and my outlook, is a positive one, is a healthy one, for the U.S. economy for the rest of this year.”

Despite that more sanguine outlook, inflation is running below the Fed’s 2 percent target, dimming the odds of a rate increase soon. Investors would like to see a rate cut, as would President Trump, but Mr. Powell indicated that is equally unlikely. The strong jobs report puts a rate cut further out of reach.

It’s not just the markets that have shrugged off once-feared headwinds like slowing global growth, the trade war with China, and Britain’s departure from the European Union. Businesses have, too.

At Two Men and a Truck, a national moving company based in Lansing, Mich., business slowed early this year as the government shutdown and rocky stock market led people to put off moves. But that caution didn’t last: Business rebounded in March and surged in April, said Randy Shacka, the company’s president.

“Mid-April, just something switched,” Mr. Shacka said. “It’s been gangbusters.”

The company is racing to hire some 5,000 people for what it anticipates will be a record summer moving season. For the first time this year, it is holding recruiting events where it plans to hire qualified applicants on the spot. At the first event, in Lansing in April, the company made 30 job offers, and it aimed to hire 1,000 people in Texas at several events on Wednesday.

“We’re right in the midst of this crazy time of hiring,” Mr. Shacka said.

A job fair in Miami last month. Businesses have shrugged off international tensions and slowing global growth, which were seen as headwinds a few months ago.CreditJoe Raedle/Getty Images

A Tight Labor Market

Not long ago, economists were worried that the recovery was producing few high-paying positions even as payrolls expanded. Those concerns have grown more distant as average hourly earnings have climbed at a faster pace in recent months.

Businesses are wrestling with what has become a job-seeker’s market, according to Amy Glaser, a senior vice president at staffing company Adecco.

“The candidates are 100 percent in the driver’s seat,” she said. “If employers don’t respond to job applicants in 48 hours, they’re gone. Somebody else has called with a better offer. Or if you schedule an interview too far out, they ghost you.”

As a result, employers have been dangling some notable perks, she added. Among them are upgraded cafeterias, day care, and subsidies for essentials like gas and parking. Call-center managers are letting more employees work from home.

Candidates who might have otherwise been stuck on the sidelines for lack of experience are getting a second look, said Martha Gimbel, research director at Indeed, the job-search site. Fast-growing search terms include “anything full time,” “office jobs no experience” and “hiring immediately no experience.”

Ben Casselman contributed reporting.

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