May 02, 2014
May 2, 2014
The economy added 288,000 jobs in April. With upward revisions to the prior two months’ data, this brings the three month average to 234,000. This is highest three month total since the economy added 829,000 jobs in the first three months of 2012. The household survey showed unemployment rate falling from 6.7 percent in March to 6.3 percent in April, but the drop was entirely the result of 806,000 people leaving the labor force. Employment, as measured in the household survey, actually fell by 73,000. The employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) remained unchanged at 58.9 percent.
Women and white teens were the big gainers, with the unemployment rate for women falling by 0.5 percentage points to 5.7 percent. The unemployment rate for white teens fell by 2.4 percentage points to 15.9 percent. The unemployment rate for black teens increased by 0.7 percentage points to 36.8 percent, although their EPOP also rose by 1.2 percentage points. The unemployment rate for Hispanics also fell sharply from 7.9 percent to 7.3 percent.
For more, see the latest Jobs Byte.
