U.S. employers shed nearly 540,000 non-farm jobs in April, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, a number that was significantly better than economists’ expectations but still showed considerable weakness in the economy.
With this month' report, the economy has seen 5.7 million jobs disappear since the recession began in December 2007, placing approximately 13.7 million people out of work. However this report was considerably better than previous monthly reports this year – a possible sign that this economy is beginning to find some sort of a floor.
According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy lost 539,000 jobs in April which elevated the nation’s unemployment rate from 8.5% to 8.9%. The raw number of jobs lost came in considerably better than the 610,000-loss expected by economists, according to estimates provided by Thomson Reuters.
However, the U.S. Labor Department revised upward the numbers of jobs lost in February and March by an additional 66,000. In total, the numbers of jobs lost in this report totaled 605,000, which was closer in line with what economists were predicting.
"Widespread job losses continued throughout the private sector," said Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is the agency who compiles the report.
April’s figures were helped by a 72,000-job increase in government-related jobs, which was attributed primarily to temporary hiring ahead of the 2010 Census, according to the Commission’s findings. The recession-resistant education and health services sector reported a 15,000-job increase during the month.
Overall, private-sector employment fell by 611,000 down a bit from the 700,000 average of the past four months, Hall said. The bulk of the losses came in the construction and manufacturing sectors, who lost a combined 270,000 jobs during the month. Professional and business services also contracted by 122,000 jobs during the month.
Economists' immediate reaction to April's jobs report were mixed. While generally the monthly losses have improved from the ugly 650,000-750,000 monthly losses posted earlier this month, employers are still shedding jobs at a high rate.
"This is less bad (than February and March), but it is hardly a triumph or even a stabilization," said Ian Shepherdson with High Frequency Economics.
"If you were to look at this report by itself, it's a horrendous report," said Josh Feinman, an economist with Deutsche Bank. "However compared to the reports of the few months, April is less horrendous. You have to slow the rate of decline first."
Average hourly earnings advanced just $0.01 to $18.51. The average workweek remained unchanged at 33.2 hours, while a separate index of aggregate weekly hours fell 0.6 percentage point to 100.30.
