U.S. job growth increased more than expected in April as manufacturers boosted hiring, underscoring the economy's strong fundamentals
Though the Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday showed a moderation in wage gains last month, wage price pressures are likely to continue to build amid record job openings. About 363,000 people left the labor force in April, pulling down the participation rate from a two-year high and potentially worsening worker shortages.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls would rise by 391,000 jobs. Estimates ranged from a low of 188,000 to a high of 517,000. Employment is now 1.2 million jobs below its pre-pandemic level.The broad increase in hiring last month was led by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 78,000 jobs. Restaurants and bars contributed 44,000 jobs to those gains, leaving employment in the industry 1.4 million below its February 2020 level.
Employment in most industries is now at or above the February 2020 levels, though healthcare and manufacturing are thousands of jobs away from achieving that milestone. The leisure and hospitality sector still has a gap of 1.4 million jobs. Compensation for American workers logged its largest increase in more than three decades in the first quarter, helping to keep domestic demand supported.
That fear continued to dominate investor sentiment. Stocks on Wall Street fell, extending a recent rout. The dollar "The fact employment and the labor force moved together suggests both declines were caused by trouble finding seasonal workers and, therefore, an overlarge seasonal adjustment rather than layoffs," said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial in New York.The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, fell to 62.2% from a two-year high of 62.4% in March.
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