Job growth surges in April to four-year high
Employers in the United States added 290,000 jobs in April, the biggest surge of hiring in four years, the government said Friday.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.9% last month from 9.7% in the first three months of this year, as more jobless workers and many others reentered the labor force, seeing stronger hiring prospects.
The Labor Department’s report indicates that the long-depressed job market is gaining momentum. The gains were far more than the 200,000 jobs that analysts were projecting, and the report will come as a welcome relief to investors and many others who have grown nervous about the ripple effects of the financial turmoil in Greece.
The Labor Department also revised upward the job numbers for March, saying the economy added 230,000 payroll positions that month as opposed to 162,000 reported earlier. And the nation added 39,000 jobs in February, instead of shedding 14,000.
In April, hiring by the Census Bureau accounted for 66,000 of the net new jobs created as the government took on more workers for the 2010 census.
The private sector increased employment by 231,000 jobs last month, up from 174,000 in March. Job growth came in almost every major industry, with manufacturing adding 44,000 jobs, professional and business services growing by 80,000 and leisure and hospitality payrolls up 45,000.
However, with people reentering the job market in large numbers, the ranks of unemployed rose last month by 255,000 from March to 15.3 million. And those who have been without work for more than six months reached 6.7 million, accounting for nearly 46% of all the unemployed workers.
