Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and financial activities.
This is the weakest pace of hiring in seven months, according to The Washington Post. The source reports that the easing up in job growth could be a signal that “broader economic sluggishness” could spill into the labor market. More than 300,000 Americans left the labor force, The Washington Post wrote, a bad sign for the economy as a thinning labor force means competition for jobs diminishes.
