Economy
May 10, 2021
U.S. Job Creation Disappoints in April
Written by David Schollaert
The U.S. economy added just 266,000 jobs in April, a disappointment following stronger-than-expected growth in February and March and well below earlier estimates, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although far fewer workers were added to the payroll than the 1.0 million forecast by economists, there were some notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, pointing towards progress in the reopening efforts across the U.S. marketplace.
Manufacturing employment edged down in April by 18,000, following gains of 89,000 over the previous two months. Manufacturing payrolls remain 515,000 less than the pre-pandemic totals in February 2020. Employment in construction was unchanged over the month. Year on year, construction employment is up by 917,000 workers, but it’s still 196,000 below its February 2020 level pre-pandemic. Figure 1 shows the total number of nonfarm employed people in the U.S. since 2000.
