TheU.S. economy added fewer jobs in April than in , falling short of consensusestimates and leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.0%.
Accordingto the latest Employment Situation report from the Labor Department, total U.S.nonfarm payroll employment rose by 160,000 in April. Over the past threemonths, the economy added an average of 200,000 jobs.
Theexpected month-over-month job gain for April was 200,000, while the consensusestimate for the unemployment rate was 4.9%, according to Econoday data.
Thelabor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio fellslightly.
February'semployment gain was revised downward to 233,000 from 245,000, while the gain inMarch was lowered to 208,000 from 215,000.
Averagehourly earnings on nonfarm payrolls in April increased 8 cents to $25.53 afterrising 6 cents in March. The average workweek increased slightly to 34.5 hoursfor the month.
Thenumber of long-term unemployed, or those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was 2.1million in April, a decrease of 150,000 from March. They accounted for 25.7% ofthe unemployed. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons,or involuntary part-time workers, was down slightly to 6.0 million people. Thatfigure has shown little change since November 2015.
Asin March, there were 1.7 million people marginally attached to the labor force.In April, that figure was down by 400,000 from a year earlier. The Bureau ofLabor Statistics defines this group as people neither working nor looking forwork but who indicate that they want and are available for a job and havelooked for work some time in the past 12 months. This group included 568,000discouraged workers, down by 188,000 year over year.
Employmentin health care grew by 44,000; financial activities employment rose by 20,000;and professional and business services added 65,000 jobs. Employment inconstruction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation andwarehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and government showed littleor no change.
Miningemployment fell by 7,000.