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Notizie economiche
03.05.2024

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increase much less than expected in April; unemployment rate unexpectedly upticks

The U.S. Labor Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 in April after an upwardly revised 315,000 increase (from 303,000) in March. This marked the weakest monthly gain since October 2023 (+165,000) and was below the average monthly advance of 242,000 over the prior 12 months.

According to the report, the largest jobs increases occurred in health care (+56,000), social assistance (+31,000), and transportation and warehousing (+22,000). 

The unemployment rate inched up to 3.9 per cent from an unrevised 3.8 per cent in the prior month. 

Economists had predicted the nonfarm payrolls to rise by 243,000 and the jobless rate to remain unchanged at 3.8 per cent.

The labour force participation rate held steady at 62.7 per cent in April, while hourly earnings for private-sector workers grew by 0.2 per cent m-o-m (or $0.07) to $34.75, following an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m uptick in March. Economists had expected the average hourly earnings to increase by 0.3 per cent m-o-m in April. Over the year, the average hourly earnings jumped 3.9 per cent in April, following an unrevised 4.1 per cent climb in the previous month. This represented the weakest increase since June 2021 (+3.9 per cent). Economists had predicted the annual wage to surge by 4.0 per cent in April.

The average workweek slipped 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours last month, marginally below economists' estimate of 34.4 hours.

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