US jobs market slows but unemployment rate ties longest streak since 1960s

The US economy underperformed expectations in April, adding only 175,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The news comes as the Federal Reserve seeks to cool inflation.

The unemployment rate also changed very little, remaining at 3.9 per cent. Indeed, this is the best streak of unemployment being below 4 percent since the 1960s.

The number is below what many expected. The ADP Employment Report projected that the US economy had added 192,000 jobs in April.

President Joe Biden hailed the number in a statement on Friday as a sign that the economy has rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic. He specifically highlighted the growth of women in the workforce.

“I had a plan to turn our country around and build our economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” he said. “Now we are seeing that plan in action, with well over 15 million jobs created since I took office, working-age women employed at a record high rate, wages rising faster than prices, and unemployment below 4 percent for a record 27 months in a row.”

Hourly earnings also grew in April by 0.2 per cent, and the average hourly earnings grew by 3.9 per cent, which shows that wages have outpaced inflation.

Health care led the growth of jobs in April, adding 56,000 jobs, while social assistance added 31,000 jobs.

“There’s more work to do,” Biden said in his statement. “I have a plan to lower the cost of rent and home ownership by building 2 million homes; to cut taxes for middle-class families and American workers; and to continue making health care, prescription drugs, inhalers, and insulin more affordable.”

Biden hopes to make the economic recovery — particularly job and wage growth — a central part of his re-election