by paul gomme and peter rupert
The BLS announced that payroll employment increased 115,000 in April and March employment was revised up 7,000 to 185,000 and February was revised down 23,000 to 156,000.
The private sector added 123,000 jobs while the government sector shed 8,000, falling for seven consectutive months. Nearly all of the increase in employment came from the service producing sector, up 113,000.
Average hours of work rose from 34.2 to 34.3 and has been see-sawing between these two over the past few months. The increase in both private employment and average weekly hours means that total hours of work showed a strong increase. Average hourly earnings increased to $37.41 from $37.35.
According to the household survey the civilian labor force declined 92,000, the number unemployed increased 134,000 and then number employed fell 226,000. The end result was a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, from 4.26% to 4.34%. Note that, due to rounding, the BLS reported that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%.
While the establishment survey beat “expectations” and was taken as good news by the market, the household survey poured a little cold water on the outlook. Having said that, the labor market continues to exhibit more strength than weakness.