Employers went on a hiring binge in April, adding 288,000 jobs and dropping unemployment to the lowest rate since September 2008.
Unemployment fell from 6.7% in March to 6.3% in April, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released earlier this month. The unemployment rate was fluctuating from 6.6% to 6.7% the first three months of this year.
The latest report also showed unemployment fell by 1.2% between April 2014 and April 2013. Until the surge in April, the nation tacked on an average of 190,000 jobs a month over the past year, the BLS said.
In April, 39 states and the District of Columbia saw employment gains and Nebraska was unchanged. Employment fell in 10 states.
States with the largest employment gains were:
- Texas, 64,100
- California, 56,100
- Florida, 34,100
Texas, California and Florida have also produced the largest number of new jobs in the past 12 months.
States with the largest April employment losses were:
- Illinois, 6,800
- Minnesota, 4,200
- Maine, 2,200
North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate of 2.6% while Rhode Island had the highest of 8.3%. Also the West was the worst place to find work with unemployment at 7% and the south was the best region to find a job with unemployment at 5.9%.
Employment segments
The jobs were spread over a number of employment segments, including professional, retail, food and drinking establishments and construction.
Business and professional services made up the fastest-growing segment of the economy, adding 75,000 jobs in April, followed by retail employers who hired 35,000 more workers. Food services and drinking places served up 33,000 new jobs, followed by construction that tacked on 32,000 workers.
Transportation, manufacturing, information, financial and government segments saw little change but mining increased by 11,000 jobs.
Pay changes little
The number of people out of work for 27 weeks or longer continued a decline, falling by 287,000 to 3.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed dropped 908,000 over the past 12 months.
Some portions of the labor market showed little change, the BLS said.
The number of workers employed part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, or had their hours reduced, held fairly steady at 7.5 million and the number of discouraged workers remained at about 783,000 with little change in the last 12 months. The BLS classifies discouraged workers as those who aren’t looking for employment because they don’t believe jobs are available.
The average workweek held steady at 34.5 hours in March and April and nosed up only slightly from 34.4 hours in January. Since January, the average weekly pay rose by just under $18 but stayed at $838.70, or $24.31 an hour during March and April.
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