Little change in U.S. unemployment
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 253,000 in April, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.4%, 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 unemployment rate, at 3.4%, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.7 million, changed little in April. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4% to 3.7% since March 2022.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.3%), adult women (3.1%), teenagers (9.2%), Whites (3.1%), Blacks (4.7%), Asians (2.8%), and Hispanics (4.4%) showed little or no change in April.
The number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs decreased by 307,000 in April to 2.6 million.
The number of persons jobless less than five weeks decreased by 406,000 to 1.9 million in April. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little over the month at 1.2 million and accounted for 20.6% of the total unemployed. Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.6%, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.4%, were unchanged in April. These measures remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels (63.3% and 61.1%, respectively).
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.
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.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
