Jessica O'ConnorThe US economy added 177,000 jobs in April, while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2%, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Job gains were seen across several key sectors, with employment continuing to trend upward in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance.
Conversely, federal government employment saw a decline during the month.
The unemployment rate, at 4.2%, has remained within a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024.
In April, the total number of unemployed individuals stood at 7.2 million, showing little change from the previous month.
However, there was a notable rise in long-term unemployment, with the number of individuals jobless for 27 weeks or more increasing by 179,000 to 1.7 million. These long-term unemployed made up 23.5% of all unemployed persons.
The labor force participation rate held steady at 62.6% in April, while the employment-population ratio remained at 60.0% – both figures showing minimal movement over the past year.
The number of people working part time for economic reasons, often referred to as involuntary part-time workers, was essentially unchanged at 4.7 million.
These individuals typically sought full-time work but either had their hours cut or could not find full-time employment.
Additionally, 5.7 million individuals not in the labor force expressed a desire for a job, though they were not actively seeking work and thus not classified as unemployed.
Of these, 1.6 million were marginally attached to the labor force, meaning they had looked for a job within the past year but not in the last four weeks.
The number of discouraged workers – those who believe no jobs are available for them – remained stable at 414,000.
Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot, said: “On the surface the latest US employment report looks to be fairly healthy.
“While Donald Trump was happy to claim this is a Biden economy after the poor GDP reading earlier this week, he will no doubt claim that the tariff uncertainty is having little impact on the US, with the labour market seemingly trundling on.
“However, this latest jobs figure is still down markedly from what was a bumper month in March, and the fear is that this is the start of a more considerable slowdown.
“First quarter economic growth in the US was negative, raising the possibility of the world’s largest economy tipping into recession.
“Consumers are cutting back while job vacancies are getting harder to fill as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration.
“With tariff uncertainty continuing to reign supreme, all of this is painting a picture of businesses struggling in America and the potential for future disappointments on the jobs front.”
He added: “A potential quickening of this slump may just get the Federal Reserve to act on interest rates, however. So far, Jerome Powell has stood firm that it will not be influenced by the words of Donald Trump and cut rates sooner than it would like.
“There remains inflationary risks and uncertainty across the market, particularly given what happens after the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs is unknown.
“The Fed will not want to cut rates into a market of rising inflation, but should other economic indicators start flagging trouble, it may have no choice but to do what Donald Trump wants it to do – cut interest rates.”
Isaac Stell, investment manager at Wealth Club, said: “For the second month in a row the US jobs market showed far more resilience than had been expected, with a strong headline figure of 177,000 jobs created despite the tariff turmoil unleashed during April.
Economists had been expecting a sharper fall in the number of jobs created following the decline in business confidence and the DOGE continuing its job cutting mission.
“However, robust hiring in the healthcare, transport and warehousing sectors ensured the pain wasn’t as severe as expected.
“The headline figures are also yet to reflect the full extent of the federal job cuts as those on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay still count as employed.
“Revisions to these latest figures are likely as has been seen with the March and February numbers.
“Markets have taken the latest jobs report as a bullish signal with equity futures rising on the news. However, this perhaps indicates that markets are emotional beasts and trade on sentiment rather than reality.
“GDP in the US surprisingly contracted in the first quarter falling by 0.3% and business confidence continues to slide. A jobs reckoning maybe on the way and it would be unwise to let the short-term news instill undue confidence.”
