Broad job gains across the economy helped the labor market show resilience in the face of a banking crisis and growing fears of a recession.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 253,000 in April, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday. That’s more than the Dow Jones estimate of 180,000.
Friday’s data reinforces the argument that the labor market has remained idiosyncratically strong despite signs that the broader economy has been slowing.
Healthcare and social assistance accounted for almost 1 in 4 of the new jobs, adding about 64,200 for the month. Outpatient services alone accounted for around 24,000 of these new jobs. Payrolls at care and residential facilities rose 9,000, while those at hospitals rose 7,000 from the previous month.
Despite being the fastest growing sector compared to last month, healthcare still added fewer jobs than average over the past six months. But the social assistance sector grew faster than average during this period, helped by gains in the individual and family services sub-industry.
Professional and business services posted the second-biggest growth in April at 43,000, more jobs than were added in an average month over the past six months. Professional, scientific and technical service occupations accounted for the bulk of the sector’s gains, adding 45,000. Temporary jobs, however, continued to decline with a month-on-month loss of 23,300, taking the subsector’s total workforce short of its March 2022 peak of nearly 175,000 jobs.
“No job report is perfect,” says Nick Bunker, director of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab. “The continued decline in temp employment may ring some traditional recession alarm bells, but given the rapid pace of hiring in recent years, this could just be another sign of moderation.”
April’s broad gains somewhat offset declines seen in a handful of industries in previous months. Construction added 15,000 jobs in April after losing 11,000 in March. Payrolls linked to finance jobs rose 23,000 in April, more than erasing losses after losing a modest 1,000 the previous month.
And despite broad gains across all sectors, overall employment growth has been relatively subdued. Bunker noted that the three-month moving average dropped to 222k with the April data, less than half the size it was a year ago. He said growth is still high enough to keep the jobless rate stable, but these signs of moderation could tell the Federal Reserve that the notoriously hot job market is actually showing signs of cooling.
“Workers, employers and policymakers should be encouraged about the current state of affairs,” Bunker said. “But it’s unclear how much longer it can hold out.”
— CNBC’s Gabriel Cortés contributed to this report.
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