Washington (United States) (AFP) – US employment rose more than expected in April, while the unemployment rate remained steady, government data showed, with the world’s largest economy firming recent labor market gains but analysts warning of underlying weakness. “Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent,” the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. The gains mainly came in the health care, transportation and warehousing, and retail trade sectors.
US job growth has been see-sawing between expansion and contraction for the last year, sparking concerns about the health of the labor market and economic growth more generally. Nonetheless, the figure is likely to reassure Federal Reserve officials that they can hold interest rates steady for now, as surging energy costs due to the Iran war fan inflation fears. Friday’s data beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expecting growth of 55,000.
The health care sector has been a consistent performer, as the US population ages and more people retire, and it has driven job growth in recent months. In April, the sector added 37,000 jobs, in line with its average monthly gain of 32,000 over the last year, the BLS said. The gains were mainly in nursing and residential care facilities. Transportation and warehousing rose in April, mainly driven by a gain in couriers and messengers, but was still down by 105,000 from its peak in February 2025. Federal government employment continued to decline. US President Donald Trump has taken a hatchet to the sector, shutting down entire agencies and pressuring federal workers to quit. Employment in the sector is down by 11.5 percent — or 348,000 jobs — from its peak in October 2024. The new BLS report also revised figures for February and March, showing 16,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
The US unemployment rate has remained relatively steady around the 4.3 percent mark, despite the tumult in labor demand, with economists citing a drop in labor supply as the cause.
Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade, warned that US jobs growth has been overly reliant on health care in recent months. “Over the last 24 months, health care has created 81 percent of the private sector jobs — everything else, 19 percent,” he told AFP. “That’s a very risky right way to run a railroad.” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US Economist at Oxford Economics, said that if health care was excluded, “job growth was negative over the last 12 months.” North said that over-reliance and the continuing see-sawing of the labor market were of concern, with weak job growth affecting people’s lives and presenting worrying signals for the overall economy. “What’s important here in the labor market that I see is under the surface. I think it’s a little bit weaker than most would see,” he said.
EY-Parthenon economists Gregory Daco and Lydia Boussour said in a note issued before Friday’s report that they expected to see “a largely frozen labor market” for the rest of the year. “While it is still early to see direct labor market fallout from the Middle East conflict, overlapping supply shocks, margin pressure, and uncertainty around trade and energy costs are leading firms to lean more on productivity-enhancing investment and cost discipline rather than expanding headcount,” they said.
© 2024 AFP
