Job growth stumbled in April, with a few previous areas of strength showing meager job additions or even losses.
The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs overall, well below Wall Street expectations. Health care and social assistance again led the way with a gain of 87,000 jobs, but construction and leisure and hospitality added fewer than 10,000 jobs each, well below the prior two months.
The slower job growth could be good news on the inflation front but will raise concerns about a broader economic slowdown.
“After what looked like a reacceleration in the first quarter, today’s Jobs Report shows the labor market returning to its prior trend of gradually slowing job growth and wage growth,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said in a note Friday.
“Instead of stagflation, the report shows solid payroll gains (+175K, about 10K more than the 2019 monthly average) and cooling wage growth (3.9% YoY, down 0.2 pt) — exactly the news markets and the Fed were hoping for. The overall picture is one of a steady labor market with disinflationary growth,” Pollak continued.
Some white-collar sectors are showing signs of weakness. The information sector lost 8,000 jobs for its second negative reading in three months. Professional and business services shed 4,000 positions, led by losses in temporary help services.
One bright spot was retail trade adding 20,100 jobs, which was 5,000 above its March number. Job growth in transportation and warehousing also accelerated month over month with a gain of 21,800.
Within those two groups, general merchandise retailers was a particularly strong area, adding 10,000 jobs.
