The U.S. job market had an unexpectedly solid month in April.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate – 4.3 percent – stayed right where it was. The results fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates alone when next they meet.
According to the BLS numbers released last week, nonfarm payrolls increased by 115,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 185,000 advance in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 62,000 jobs after a previously reported 178,000 rebound in March.
Estimates ranged from a loss of 15,000 jobs to a gain of 150,000 positions, according to a report from Reuters. Economists said it was too early for the effects of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran to show. The conflict has raised gasoline and diesel prices as well as the cost of other commodities that are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
Payrolls have been halting since mid-2025, alternating between gains and losses. Reuters reported that economists have attributed the swings to an adjustment to the birth-and-death model. Some said a large turnover in firms created was making it hard for the BLS to estimate job creation associated with new companies.
According to the report, the labor market has been mired in a “slow hire, slow fire” zone, a paralysis blamed on trade and immigration policies. Lower immigration and an aging population meant the economy needed to create between zero and 50,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population, economists estimated.
The BLS report the opinions of financial market experts that the Fed would leave interest rates unchanged into 2027. The U.S. central bank last week left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 3.5%-3.75% range, citing inflation worries.
