Global Macro Monitor

The BLS reported this morning:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and construction. Mining employment continued to decline….

The average workweek for all employeeson private nonfarm payrolls remained at 34.5 hours in April. The manufacturing workweek for all employees edged down by 0.1 hour to 40.8 hours, and factory overtime edged down by 0.1 hour to 3.2

hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours.

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to $24.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.2 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged up by 2 cents to $20.90 in April.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +264,000 to +266,000, and the change for March was revised from +126,000 to +85,000. With these revisions, employment gains in February and March combined were 39,000 lower than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 191,000 per month.

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