The workforce saw yet another month with virtually unchanged unemployment rate in April, yet the employment number is slightly up.
Nonfarm employment increased by 138,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reports.
Average hourly earnings rose by 9 cents in April.
"The report shows our economy continues to grow and steadily produce new jobs,” says U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “For the first four months of 2006, 692,000 net new jobs were created for a total of 5.3 million net new jobs since August 2003. The unemployment rate remains low at 4.7 percent, which is below the 5.7 percent average of the 1990s. And average hourly earnings in April were better than consensus forecasts, which is good news for America's workers."
Total employment and the labor force total employment was about unchanged in April at 143.7 million; the employment-population ratio held at 63.0 percent.