CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

On the April Jobs Report

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo

It doesn’t appear as though the jump in energy prices has yet had much effect on the labor market, as the economy added 115,000 jobs in April. Year-over-year wage growth was 3.6 percent, which is likely to be roughly even with the inflation rate that will be reported next week. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent, with little change for most demographic groups.

Health Care and Social Assistance Again Dominate Job Growth

The job growth was again concentrated in the health care and social assistance category, which added 53,900 jobs in April. Over the last year this category has added 656,500 jobs, accounting for well over 100 percent of all job growth over the period.

Other big gainers were the courier category (think Amazon), which added 37,900 jobs, and retail trade, which added 21,800 jobs. The courier category is always erratic. It reportedly lost 44,000 jobs in February; the April figure put employment just 15,600 above the January level. The rise in retail employment follows an increase of 18,600 in March. If this continues it would be a serious reversal in a sector that had been shedding jobs for most of the last two years.

The restaurant sector added 17,200 jobs, somewhat better than its average of 11,200 jobs over the last year. This seems to indicate that higher gas prices are not yet discouraging people from spending in discretionary areas. On the other hand, jobs in hotels fell by 15,000, but this followed an unusual increase of 12,300 in March, so it could just be random noise.

Goods Sector Shows Weakness

The goods sector looked extraordinarily strong in March, with employment in manufacturing rising by 15,000 after it had been shedding jobs all through 2025, and construction adding 26,000........

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