U.S. employment increased more than expected in April while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent, pointing to labor market resilience and reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged for some time.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 115,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 185,000 advance in March, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its closely watched employment report on Friday.
Estimates ranged from a loss of 15,000 jobs to a gain of 150,000 positions. Economists said it was too early for the effects of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran to show. The conflict has raised gasoline and diesel prices as well as the cost of other commodities that are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
Payrolls have been choppy since mid-2025, alternating between gains and losses. Economists have attributed the swings to an adjustment to the birth-and-death model, which the government uses to estimate how many jobs were gained or lost because of companies opening or closing in a given month. Some said a large turnover in firms created was making it hard for the BLS to estimate job creation associated with new companies.
The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trump’s tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.
The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025. Employers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, the fewest outside a recession year since 2002. High interest rates and uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies held back hiring.
There's been progress this year, but it's been uneven — two strong months of job growth (160,000 new jobs in January and 178,000 in March) and one bad one (employers cut 133,000 jobs in February).
U.S. hiring, though, has been dominated by one industry: Healthcare companies, catering to an aging American population, have added 360,000 jobs over the past year; other employers have combined to cut 120,000 over the 12 months that ended in March.
The report bolstered financial market views that the Fed would leave interest rates unchanged into 2027. The U.S. central bank last week left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 3.50 percent-3.75 percent range, citing inflation worries.