or Friday report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) titled “Employment Situation” showed that unemployment rates rose slightly in April, while employment fell short of the mark.
Employers added 175,000 new jobs in April, which was well below last year's monthly average of 242,000 and below. analysts' expectations of 235,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate rose slightly from 3.8% in March to 3.9% in April.
The areas with the biggest job gains were health care, which added 56,000 jobs in April, social assistance, which grew by 31,000 jobs, and transportation and warehousing, which saw an increase of 22,000 jobs.
Other sectors, such as construction and government, also added jobs in smaller amounts, while electronics and appliance retailers posted 3,000 fewer jobs.
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Bloomberg REPORTS that overall labor gains are the smallest recorded by the BLS in six months, and may be due to slowing growth in the services sector.
The BLS report, however, downplayed the changes.
“Both the unemployment rate, at 3.9 percent, and the number of unemployed, at 6.5 million, were little changed in April,” the BLS report said, noting that the jobless rate remained in the 3.7% to 3.9% range. during the past. nine months.
Workers saw average hourly wages increase by seven cents in April, for a 0.2% increase to $34.75 an hour. At the same time, the average working week decreased by 0.1 hours to 34.3 hours.
Average hourly wages are growing at their slowest pace since June 2021, per Bloomberg.
INVENTORY jumped on the Friday after the report was released, perhaps because the report showed persistently low unemployment numbers.
“The bottom line is that this report is quite reassuring,” American economist and Harvard professor Jason Furman. said on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”
The BLS will release its next monthly employment report on June 7.
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Reports indicate The Federal Reserve, on the other hand, may consider lowering interest rates later this year.