April Employment Report: 177 thousand Jobs, 4.2% Unemployment Rate
by Calculated Risk on 5/02/2025 08:30:00 AM
From the BLS: Employment Situation
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined.
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The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised down by 15,000, from +117,000 to +102,000, and the change for March was revised down by 43,000, from +228,000 to +185,000. With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 58,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.
Payrolls for February and March were revised down by 58 thousand, combined.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.In April, the year-over-year change was 1.88 million jobs. Employment was up solidly year-over-year.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 62.6% in April, from 62.5% in March. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio increased to 60.0% from 59.9% in March (blue line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2% in April from 4.2% in March.
This was above consensus expectations; however, February and March payrolls were revised down by 58,000 combined.
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