U.S. reports April’s hiring pace sped up

Employers add 211,000 jobs; unemployment at 4.4 percent

WASHINGTON — Job growth in the United States recovered in April, according to Labor Department data released Friday, providing a reassuring economic snapshot after weak numbers in March.

Employers added 211,000 jobs, more than double the growth in March. The April unemployment rate dipped to a 10-year low of 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in March.

The unemployment rate in Arkansas in March was a record-low 3.6 percent. The April rate will be released later this month.

Friday’s report signaled that the overall national economy is poised for stronger growth after an anemic first quarter, economists said.

The job report “does increase our confidence that the soft patch in the first quarter is over,” Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital, said in an email to clients.

In an encouraging sign, the number of part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs has reached a nine-year low. That trend suggests that many employers are meeting rising customer demand by shifting part-timers to full-time work. During much of the economic recovery, the number of part-timers remained unusually high, one reason why steady job growth failed to produce sharp gains in pay or consumer spending.

The shift to more fulltime work has also helped reduce a measure of underemployment that includes people who aren’t counted as unemployed: They are the part-time workers who want full-time jobs, as well as people who have given up their job hunts.

This broader figure reached 8.6 percent in April, the lowest point since November 2007, just before the recession officially began. In 2009, it had topped 17 percent.

That broader measure of underemployment has been cited by President Donald Trump and his advisers as a more accurate gauge of the

job market’s health than the unemployment rate.

So far this year, employers have added an average of 185,000 jobs a month, matching last year’s pace. It shows that so far the job market under Trump closely resembles the one Barack Obama presided over in 2016.

“The labor market has progressively gotten tighter and tighter,” Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics Ltd in Valhalla, N.Y., said before the report. The job-growth trend is “pretty strong, relative to the demographics — more than enough to keep unemployment down over time.”

Friday’s solid jobs report makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve will resume raising short-term interest rates when it next meets in mid-June. Investors have estimated the likelihood of a June rate increase at roughly 90 percent.

Beyond the strong hiring, the economy is showing other signs of health: Sales of previously owned homes have reached the highest point in a decade. And a survey of services firms this week — including restaurants, banks and retailers — showed that they are expanding steadily.

Average paychecks grew in April, increasing 2.5 percent over the past 12 months. Companies may not yet feel

much pressure to raise pay to find or keep the workers they need. Typically, employers feel compelled to pay more as the number of unemployed dwindles. In a strong economy, hourly pay gains tend to average around 3.5 percent a year.

“I think there’s room for faster wage growth, but I don’t know how long we’ll be able to sustain this job growth before we start hitting bigger constraints,” said Jason Furman, the chief economic adviser during the Obama administration.

“The momentum in the job market is really impressive,” Furman said. “I’m frankly surprised that this late into an expansion the economy is still adding jobs well above the steady-state pace.”

One reason for the tepid wage gain is that hiring was strongest last month in lower-paying industries. One such category that includes hotels, restaurants, casinos and amusement parks added 55,000 jobs, the most of any major sector.

Health care, which includes some higher-paying jobs in nursing as well as lower-paid home health care aides, added 37,000 jobs in April. Banking and other financial services added 19,000.

Construction added just 5,000 jobs, after much larger gains earlier this year. Factories hired a net 6,000, the fewest for that category in five months.

The report adds to evidence that economic growth

is rebounding in the current April-June quarter, with some economists forecasting that it could top a 3 percent annual rate, compared with the first quarter’s 0.7 percent rate. Last quarter, consumers spent less in part because of low utility bills during an unseasonably warm winter. That’s likely to prove a temporary restraint.

And the housing market is reaching new heights as home sales and construction march upward even though a limited number of properties are for sale.

The retail industry’s woes continued last month, with stores adding just 6,000 jobs. That’s below their long-run average and comes after retailers eliminated a combined 55,000 positions in February and March.

Traditional chains such as Sears and Macy’s have been shedding jobs to better compete with Amazon. com and other e-commerce companies. Many traditional retailers are rapidly building up their online presence and expanding their warehouse and logistics divisions. But those functions are less labor-intensive and are unlikely to fully offset the job losses.

Factories have mostly recovered over the past six months from nearly two years of struggle. Plummeting oil prices had caused drilling firms to cut orders for steel pipe, machinery and other equipment. And weak growth overseas, plus a strong dollar, depressed exports. But oil and gas prices stabilized

last fall. Growth is picking up in Europe and Japan and has stabilized in China. All that has helped lift factory output.