Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 jobs in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 103rd straight month of employment gains.
The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6%, its lowest since December 1969.
Employment gains were strongest among professional and business services, which added 76,000 jobs in April. This category was led by 53,000 new jobs in administrative and support services.
The construction industry added 33,000 jobs in April, including 22,000 new nonresidential specialty trade contractor jobs. The construction industry has added 256,000 jobs in the past 12 months.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
April payrolls grew a cracking +263k!!!
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) May 3, 2019
Unemployment down to 3.6%
Revisions added another +16k jobs over the past two months.
One heckuva jobs report. The economy just keeps on keeping on.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, which was unfortunately accompanied by a drop in labor force participation. As a result, the unemployment rate fell for the “wrong” reasons—more people leaving the labor force as opposed to getting a job.
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) May 3, 2019
3/n pic.twitter.com/Iy5DIrheSp
Wage growth by industry. Most industries in April were at or above the range of wage growth they've seen over the last 12M, but construction, finance, and other services were soggy. pic.twitter.com/SgkUm6QVSz
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) May 3, 2019
Women gained nearly 2 out of 3 (62.7%) of jobs added in April. #JobsReport https://t.co/T31J9OpY2J
— IWPR (@IWPResearch) May 3, 2019
Business services include admin and programmers; support personnel have become much more sophisticated, providing logistics support. My admin is case in point: She learned to code to provide support to my team.
— Diane Swonk (@DianeSwonk) May 3, 2019
There is an answer to that problem of desirable workers being employed already.......
— Constance L Hunter (@ConstanceHunter) May 3, 2019
....... pay them more to entice them to join your firm.
The unusual thing in this cycle is that we see such a low level of wage growth despite the record 103 months of consecutive jobs growth.
Well, economists seem to presume it’s *only* higher pay that leads workers to a new job so that tighter labor markets lead to higher wages. Sometimes people (especially women) choose to work for other reasons. And when demand for your work is high, you can afford to be choosy. https://t.co/5Y3Mp7aUw5
— Diane Lim (@economistmom) May 3, 2019
"Based on newly available data, we do believe that, on the margin, increases in automation and the integration of artificial intelligence into the production of goods and provision of services is damping wage growth." - @joebrusuelas
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) May 3, 2019
Wage growth for low-wage workers has been strongest in states with minimum wage increases https://t.co/uD2WNaDbRi pic.twitter.com/G6zodKd9id
— Economic Policy Institute (@EconomicPolicy) March 7, 2019
We're not at maximum employment.
— Neel Kashkari (@neelkashkari) May 3, 2019
I keep hearing people say "sure there's job growth, that's because we're all holding multiple jobs". The reality is that 5% of workers hold multiple jobs and that share has been stable.
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) May 3, 2019
An excellent question. There's not really much evidence that an expansion is more likely to end just because it's been going a long time. (Here's a cite https://t.co/SmPsXUkAUn)
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) May 3, 2019
Yes, we can have good things, as long as we don't mess them up.https://t.co/PyzPRn55pt
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