US April Employment Growth Exceeds Expectations

BlockBeats News, on May 2, U.S. employment growth in April was strong, and the unemployment rate remained stable, indicating that the uncertainty of Trump's trade policies has not yet had a significant impact on hiring plans. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed that after downward revisions to the previous two months' data, non-farm payrolls increased by 177,000 in April. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2%.

The report suggests that the labor market continues to gradually cool, indicating that businesses face high uncertainty from tariffs and financial market turmoil, but have not significantly altered their hiring plans. Most economists expect the impact of punitive tariffs to become apparent in the coming months.

April's employment growth was broad-based, with healthcare, transportation, and warehousing leading the way. Manufacturing employment decreased as the sector experienced its largest contraction since 2020. Federal government jobs decreased for the third consecutive month. The labor force participation rate rose to 62.6% in April. The unemployment rate for those aged 25 to 54, also known as prime-age workers, rose to its highest level in seven months.

Economists generally expect layoffs to increase in the coming months as economic uncertainty leads to a halt in expansion plans. (Jin10)