U.S. (Un)Employment Rises in April

This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released employment numbers and the unemployment rate for April. Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. rose by 244,000 jobs. Private-sector gains totaled 268,000 for the month, with retail trade (+57,000) and professional and business services (+51,000) posting the largest gains. The public sector experienced a loss of 24,000 jobs in April, concentrated largely at state and local levels.


The U.S. unemployment rate rose in April, increasing slightly to 9.0 percent from 8.8 percent in March. The number of unemployed persons totaled 13.7 million nationwide in April. Those who were employed part time for economic reasons -- due to a cut in hours or an inability to find a full-time job -- totaled 8.6 million. There were 989,000 (not seasonally adjusted) discouraged workers in April, a drop of 208,000 from April 2010.

For more details, read the full BLS press release.
Unless otherwise stated, all numbers in this post are seasonally adjusted.