U.S. job growth bounces back
The jobless rate dropped to 4.4 percent in April, the lowest level in more than a decade, the government said Friday, signaling the economy’s resilience and showing a labor market closing in on full capacity.
Employers added 211,000 workers, the Labor Department said, helping to quell doubts raised by sluggish growth in the first quarter and anemic hiring in March.
The economic anxiety and uneven fortunes that figured so prominently in the presidential campaign have not disappeared, particularly outside of the country’s flourishing urban centers. Wage growth was also modest, with the year-over-year increase staying just baby steps ahead of inflation.
But some of the labor force’s weakest corners improved, with declines in the ranks of discouraged workers and of those working part time who would prefer full-time jobs.
“Great news,” Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Friday morning on Twitter, adding in a later statement that further work was needed “on bridging the skills gap and on expanding opportunity.”
Republicans were not alone in paying homage to the labor market’s strength.
“The momentum in the job market is really impressive,” said Jason Furman, chief economic
adviser during the Obama administration. “I’m frankly surprised that this late into an expansion the economy is still adding jobs well above the steadystate pace.”
The April figures renewed a conversation among economists about whether the economy was at “full employment,” the point at which everyone who wants a job can get one at the current level of pay.
There was less agreement on who deserved the credit. Republicans crowed about how many jobs had been created since President Donald Trump took office in January, while Democrats pointed to the ongoing economic legacy of President Barack Obama.
Three months is still a short span in the life of an administration, and Trump has not yet pushed through the main planks of his pro-growth agenda like tax reform or a large investment in infrastructure. Even so, some economists gave the president credit for a jump in optimism.
“Sharp increases in consumer and business confidence can have real consequences that show up in increased hiring and investment,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office who advised Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Less encouraging was a dip in the proportion of adults who have jobs or want them.
That measure, known as the labor participation rate, edged down to 62.9 percent last month from 63 percent, a sign that workers who had been sidelined are not being drawn back into the labor market.
“This gets to be the real issue,” said Diane Swonk, founder of DS Economics in Chicago. “As good as this report is, it points to how hard it is to bring in those marginalized workers. With skills erosion, people in long-term unemployment have gotten into a vicious cycle. An incoming tide does not lift all boats.”