By Tom Burnett CFA
On May 5, 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Employment Report for April. Total Employment increased by 235,000 to 155.6 million workers. The average monthly gain for the previous six months was 290,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged in April at 3.4% and the rate has shown a narrow range of 3.4 to 3.7% since March 2022. The number of unemployed workers was unchanged at 5.7 million, well below the latest 9.8 million jobs openings figure released on May 2.
Average payroll hourly wages rose $0.16 to $33.36, up 4.4% from a year ago.
Previous job figures for February and March were revised down by a total of 149,000.
The next Employment Report will be released on June 2, 2023.