April job creation topped estimates with 177,000 new jobs

Healthcare continues to lead the job creation parade

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

May 2, 2025

• Despite tariff uncertainty, the economy added 177,000 jobs in Aprilslightly above the 12-month average.

• Unemployment held steady at 4.2%, with long-term unemployment rising by 179,000 to 1.7 million.

• Healthcare and transportation led employment gains, while federal government jobs declined by 9,000.

Several surveys show a lot of people think were headed toward a recession but the nations hiring managers may not share that view. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the U.S. economy produced 177,000 new jobs in April, significantly more than the predicted 133,000.

The nations unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2% last month.

If you were looking for a job in healthcare, financial services, transportation, social assistance or warehousing, you had the best chance go getting hired.

Healthcare led Aprils job creation by adding 51,000 jobson par with its average over the past year. Within that sector, hospitals and ambulatory health care services each saw notable gains.

The transportation and warehousing sector added 29,000 jobs, showing a significant rebound from the previous months modest growth. Sub-sectors such as warehousing and storage (+10,000), couriers and messengers (+8,000), and air transportation (+3,000) fueled the increase.

Financial activities continued a steady upward trend, adding 14,000 jobs in April. This sector has recovered 103,000 jobs since hitting a low in April 2024. Meanwhile, social assistance roles grew by 8,000 jobs, a slower pace than their recent average.

Conversely, federal government employment dropped by 9,000, contributing to a total loss of 26,000 jobs in that sector since January.

Other major industriesincluding construction, manufacturing, retail, and professional servicesshowed little or no employment change during the month.

Labor market participation

The total number of unemployed people remained largely unchanged at 7.2 million. Long-term unemployment, however, saw an uptick of 179,000 to 1.7 million, now accounting for 23.5% of all unemployed individuals.

The labor force participation rate held steady at 62.6%, while the employment-population ratio remained at 60.0%. Both figures have shown minimal movement over the past year.

Part-time employment due to economic reasons remained at 4.7 million, and 5.7 million people not in the labor force expressed a desire for work, though they were not actively seeking employment.

Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm payroll employees increased by $0.06 (0.2%) to $36.06, marking a 3.8% increase over the past 12 months. Wages for production and nonsupervisory employees rose by $0.10 to $31.06.

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