The US economy added a better-than-expected total of 115,000 jobs in April
By Alicia Wallace, CNN
(CNN) — The US economy added a stronger-than-expected 115,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.3%, an indication of resilience at a time when war and high gas prices loom large.
April’s employment gains mark an expected retreat from March, when a revised 185,000 jobs were created, boosted by factors such as the end of large labor strikes as well as favorable weather, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.
However, the job growth seen last month was much stronger than the 65,000 that economists had estimated. No change in the unemployment rate was anticipated.
It’s the first month of back-to-back job gains in more than a year, as uncertainty and other factors have rattled the labor market. The monthly payroll numbers have been especially volatile through the first part of this year – in part due to weather, labor strikes and methodological changes.
When smoothing out that volatility, monthly job gains are running at a three-month average of 48,000.
While the war in the Middle East wasn’t expected to negatively affect April’s employment numbers, it still presents a risk: The health of the US labor market and the broader economy could be negatively affected if gas prices stay persistently high and cut into consumer spending, raise business costs, as well as trickle into higher prices for other goods and services.
Hiring decisions take a few months to come to fruition, and consumers have yet to significantly cut back because of high gas prices, but that could change if their earnings are eaten away by inflation.
In April, average hourly earnings rose 0.2% to put the annual rate of pay gains at 3.6%, landing it above inflation – for now.
The April Consumer Price Index, the most widely used inflation gauge, is expected to show that the annual rate of inflation accelerated to 3.9% from 3.3% in March, FactSet consensus estimates show.
Stock futures were higher after the data release. Dow futures were up 230 points, or 0.46%. S&P 500 futures 0.6%, and futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 were up 0.9%.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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CNN’s John Towfighi contributed reporting.
