Payrolls rebounded in April following an even bigger setback a month earlier than previously estimated, a sign companies are confident the U.S. economy will reboot after stagnating early this year. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 percent.
The 223,000 net increase in employment followed an 85,000 gain in March that was the smallest since June 2012, figures from the Labor Department showed Friday in Washington. The jobless rate fell to the lowest since May 2008 as more Americans entered the labor force and found work. Average hourly earnings climbed less than forecast.
Construction and health care were among the industries that accelerated the pace of hiring last month as the economy emerged from temporary setbacks that included bad weather and a labor dispute at West Coast ports. Such job growth and steadily rising wages may keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise its benchmark interest rate later this year.
“It is a respectable bounce -- anything 200,000 or higher is going to lead to further diminishment of slack in the labor market,” Kathy Bostjancic, a U.S. financial economist at Oxford Economics USA Inc. in New York, said before the report. The breakneck pace of hiring at the end of 2014 was “unhealthy and unsustainable, and going forward we expect more moderate gains, but still strong.”
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 96 economists called for a 228,000 advance, with estimates ranging from gains of 175,000 to 327,000. March was revised from a previously reported 126,000 advance. Revisions to prior reports subtracted a total of 39,000 jobs to overall payrolls in the previous two months.
[h=2]To calculate the data, the Labor Department surveys businesses for the pay period that includes the 12th of the month. The span between the agency’s April and March employment surveys was five weeks, rather than the typical four.
Participation Rate[/h]The participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age people who are employed or looking for work, increased to 62.8 percent from 62.7 percent in March, which matched the lowest since 1978.
Wage growth remains limited, with average hourly earnings rising 0.1 percent in April after a revised 0.2 percent gain that was weaker than initially reported. Compared with a year earlier, hourly pay was up 2.2 percent last month, less than the Bloomberg median estimate of 2.3 percent.
The average work week for all employees held at 34.5 hours.
[h=2]Construction Employment[/h]Employment in health services increased 55,600 in April after a 30,600 gain the month before. Construction companies took on 45,000 workers in April, the most since January 2014.
The slowdown tied to cheaper oil prices persisted in April. The mining industry, which includes oil extraction and services, lost 15,000 jobs last month, the most since May 2009.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues will use the data to help them parse the strength of the economy as they consider raising interest rates for the first time since 2006. Officials, who dropped a promise in March to be patient on raising rates, say they can act at any policy meeting, beginning with their gathering on June 16-17. Most expect them to move later this year.