Payrolls Grow as Factory Hiring Levels Off
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 115,000 in April, coming in above expectations. Meanwhile, February’s job loss was revised upward by 23,000 to a loss of 156,000 jobs, while March’s job gain was revised upward by 7,000 to a gain of 185,000 jobs. The 12-month average stands at 21,000 job gains per month. Healthcare and social assistance continues to exhibit the most significant job gains, adding 53,900 jobs in April. At the same time, the unemployment rate stayed the same from March at 4.3%, while the labor force participation rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 61.8% and is down from 62.6% in April 2025.
Manufacturing employment edged down by 2,000 in April after increasing by 15,000 in March. On the other hand, the collective job gains in February and March of 9,000 were revised upward by 7,000 jobs to an increase of 16,000 jobs. Manufacturing employment is down 73,000 over the year. Durable goods manufacturing employment inched up by 2,000 in April, while nondurable goods employment fell by 4,000. The most significant gain in manufacturing in April occurred in chemical manufacturing, which added 2,400 jobs over the month. Meanwhile, the most significant loss occurred in transportation equipment manufacturing, which shed 3,600 jobs over the month.
The employment-population ratio edged down 0.1 percentage point from March to 59.1% in April and is down 0.9 percentage points from a year ago. Meanwhile, employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons rose by 445,000 from March to 4.9 million in April and are up from 4.7 million in April 2025. Native-born employment is up 341,000 from March but down 1,134,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is down 326,000 over the month and 155,000 over the year. At the same time, the native-born unemployment rate is up 0.2 percentage points over the year to 4.1% in April, while the foreign-born unemployment rate is up 0.1 percentage point to 3.7%.
Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.2%, or 6 cents, reaching $37.41. Over the past year, earnings have grown 3.6%. The average workweek for all employees inched up by 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours and ticked up by the same amount to 40.4 hours for manufacturing employees.