Job growth in the United States took a positive turn last month, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report an employment surge for nonfarm payrolls in April.
About 288,000 people found work last month, a significant increase over Wall Street’s projections of 210,000 new hires.
February and March also had higher employment increases than originally reported, as new data found 36,000 more people who found work during those months.
The national unemployment rate also dropped from 6.7% to 6.3% in April, a five and a half year low. About 9.8 million Americans were unemployed as of April, 733,000 people less than the previous month.
Long-term unemployment (being without a job for 27 weeks or more) has also decreased by 287,000 in April, accounting for 35.3% of the jobless.
The largest employment gains in April came from professional and business services (75,000 new jobs), retail (35,000 new jobs), food and beverage (33,000 new jobs) and construction (32,000 new jobs).
Healthcare added 19,000 new employees in April, keeping in track with their industry’s consistent hiring growth which has averaged 17,000 new employees per month over the last year.
Other industries like transportation, government, warehouse, manufacturing, information and financial activities did not have much change this month.
After the BLS report was released, the U.S. Treasury showed improved debt yields and the U.S. dollar also jumped.
Fewer people than usual entered the job market in April, according to the BLS.
