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 Nonfarm payrolls increased by 160,000 jobs last month as
construction employment barely rose and the retail sector shed jobs,
the Labor Department said on Friday.
That was the smallest gain since September and below the
first-quarter average job growth of 200,000.
Employers added 19,000 fewer jobs in February and March than
previously reported. While the unemployment rate held at 5.0 percent
that was because people dropped out of the labor force.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising 202,000
last month and the jobless rate unchanged at 5 percent.
The stepdown in job growth could raise concerns that the weakness in
overall economic activity was spilling over to the labor market.
Economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter this year.
Average hourly earnings were a bright spot in the employment report,
rising eight cents or 0.3 percent last month. That took the
year-on-year increase to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent in March,
still below the 3.0 percent advance that economists say is needed
for inflation to rise to the Fed's 2.0 percent target.
The U.S. central bank last month offered a fairly upbeat assessment
of the labor market, saying that conditions had "improved further."
The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for
the first time in nearly a decade. Fed officials have forecast two
more rate hikes for this year.
Market-based measures of Fed policy expectations have virtually
priced out an interest rate increase at the Fed's June 14-15
meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch. They see a less than 50
percent probability of rate hikes in September and November, with a
59 percent chance at the December meeting.
The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age
Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, fell 0.2
percentage point to 62.8 percent. It had increased 0.6 percentage
point since dipping to 62.4 percent in September.
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The labor force fell by 362,000 as people dropped out in April.
The vast private services sector dominated employment gains in
April. Manufacturing added 4,000 jobs last month after shedding
29,000 in March, the biggest loss for the sector since December
2009.
There were further job losses in mining as the energy sector adjusts
to weak profits from a recent prolonged plunge in oil prices. Mining
payrolls fell 8,000 last month. Mining employment has decreased by
191,000 jobs since peaking in September 2014, with 75 percent of the
losses in support activities.
Gains in construction employment slowed sharply, with the sector
adding 1,000 jobs in April, after home building showing some signs
of fatigue last month.
Retail payrolls fell 3,100 after hefty gains in the first quarter,
despite sluggish sales.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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