Despite concerns about the global tariffs implemented by President Trump, the United States saw stronger than expected job growth in April, with a net increase of 177,000 non-farm jobs and an unchanged unemployment rate of 4.2%. Following the release of the employment report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trump once again urged the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
The employment report released on Friday showed that after seasonal adjustments, there were 177,000 new non-farm jobs added in April, slightly lower than the revised figure of 185,000 in March but higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 133,000.
The unemployment rate for April remained at 4.2%, in line with expectations, indicating that the labor market remains relatively stable.
Looking at specific industries, the healthcare sector continued to lead in growth with 51,000 new jobs added in April. Other sectors with significant job growth included transportation and warehousing (29,000), financial activities (14,000), and social assistance (8,000).
The federal government saw a decrease of 9,000 jobs in April. Since January, federal government employment has decreased by 26,000, with furloughed employees still collecting severance pay not counted as unemployed.
In terms of average hourly wages, the average hourly wage in April increased by 0.2% to $36.06 per hour, representing a 3.8% year-on-year increase.
Following the better than expected employment report, President Trump once again urged the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
“As I said, we are just in a transitional phase, we are just getting started!!!” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Consumers have been waiting for years for prices to drop. With no inflation, the Fed should cut rates!!!”
According to CNBC, Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist at Principal Global Investors, responded to the employment report on Friday by saying, “We can postpone concerns about an economic recession for another month.”
“The employment data remains very strong, indicating impressive resilience in the U.S. economy before the impact of tariffs,” Shah said, “The economy is expected to weaken in the coming months, but with this underlying momentum, if the U.S. can timely step back from the brink of tariffs, there is a significant chance of avoiding a recession.”