April Job Growth Expected to Be Strong

The Labor Department will release the April employment report Friday, and analysts expect the month’s job growth will exceed the 46,000 the economy added in March. That number represented the weakest monthly performance in more than three years, as snow and ice curtailed hiring by builders and other businesses. “We should see a sharp rise in construction employment as weather conditions were relatively favorable in April,” said David Greenlaw, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. The latest initial jobless claims statistics also make the case for a strong April employment report. First-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 in the week ended April 24--the biggest drop since January--to a seasonally adjusted 294,000.