Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 253,000 in April, and the unemployment rate changed
little at 3.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend
up in professional and business services, health care, leisure and hospitality, and social assistance. …
Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.6 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.4
percent, were unchanged in April. These measures remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020
levels (63.3 percent and 61.1 percent, respectively). (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 3.9 million, was little changed in
April. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time
because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)
The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job increased by 346,000 over the
month to 5.3 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)
[It’s tough to figure out what’s going on. Layoff reports keep ramping up, but businesses keep reporting more new jobs (the Establishment report is the business survey). Participation rates remain stagnant, though, and business investment took a huge hit in Q1. One thing’s for sure — this isn’t a recessionary economy, at least not so far, even with the Fed pumping the brakes on investors. They can’t risk much more in interest rate hikes without spreading a contagion of bank failures, so any more inflation containment will have to come through tax and regulatory policy reform. And the first opportunity for that will come in January 2025, unless Biden gets re-elected. — Ed]
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