US unemployment at a low

US unemployment fell to a five-and-ahalf year low, as the world’s economic superpower created more jobs during April than for the past two years.

The better-than-expected report signals a sharp rebound in the fortunes of the US economy, just 24 hours after lacklustre GDP figures for the first quarter. Non-farm payrolls, the most closely watched measure of US employment, increased by 288,000 last month, the US Labor Department said, beating a forecast of 210,000.

Data from February and March were also revised upwards, to show 36,000 more jobs were created than previously thought. Unemployment fell by 0.4 percentage points to a rate of 6.3pc, the lowest level since September 2008.

Positive signs on employment will fuel suggestions that the sluggish 0.1pc growth rate seen in the first quarter was an anomaly. The first three months of the year were heavily affected by freezing weather as a result of the socalled ‘polar vortex’.

Economists expect second-quarter growth to be 3pc or higher. The positive jobs data saw US Treasury bills soar as investors developed more of an appetite for risk and withdrew money from safe haven instruments.

The dollar also jumped to session highs against the euro and the yen following the update. But the data was not all positive. The number of working-age Americans who are in work or looking for a job fell 0.4 percentage points to 62.8pc, the lowest level since last December.

The US Federal Reserve is also facing persistently high levels of people out of work for long periods.