US Employment Growth Slows in April, Raises Concerns for Labor Market

According to the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment growth has averaged 245,500 jobs per month since the beginning of the year./Allison Joyce/Bloomberg/Getty Images

2024.05.04 Saturday posted at 14:00 JST

(CNN) According to April employment statistics released by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on the 3rd, the number of non-farm workers increased by only 175,000 compared to the previous month.

This is slower than expected and at the lowest level since October last year. The slowdown comes as the US Federal Reserve tries to cool demand to curb inflation.

Economists predict that the labor market will gradually slow due to pressure from high interest rates.

The market reacted favorably to the announcement, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures up $505, or 1.3%, S&P 500 futures up 1.1%, and Nasdaq futures up 1.5%.

Although the number of employed people in April fell significantly from the upwardly revised 315,000 increase in March, it remained at the same level as before the coronavirus pandemic. In the decade before the pandemic, monthly job growth averaged around 183,000 jobs.

Michael Pugliese, senior economist at US financial giant Wells Fargo, told CNN in an interview on the 3rd, “From a big picture perspective, the labor market remains very strong and continues to be tightly.” explanation. “We are far from the completely softened labor market that we saw in 2020, 2009, or the last 15 years.”

However, it is also clear that the labor market is not as tight as it was at its peak in late 2021 and most of 2022.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. This is the 27th consecutive month that the unemployment rate has been below 4%, tying the streak set in the late 1960s.

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