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Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, above expectations. On the other hand, March’s job gain was revised downward dramatically by 43,000, from 228,000 to 185,000. The 12-month average stands at 156,833 job gains per month. The unemployment rate stayed the same at 4.2%, while the labor force participation rate inched up 0.1% to 62.6%.

Manufacturing employment slipped by 1,000, but the March gain of 1,000 was revised upward by 2,000 jobs to an increase of 3,000. Durable goods manufacturing employment rose by 2,000, while nondurable goods employment declined by 3,000. The most significant gains in manufacturing in April occurred in fabricated metal product manufacturing and food manufacturing, which added 3,100 jobs each over the month. Meanwhile, the most significant losses occurred in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing, which shed 4,700 jobs over the month, followed by computer and electronic product manufacturing, which lost 4,000 jobs.

The employment-population ratio ticked up 0.1% to 60.0% but is down 0.2 percentage points from a year ago. Employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons decreased by 90,000 to 4.69 million but are up from 4.46 million in April 2024. Native-born employment is up 1,042,000 over the month and 1,120,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is down 410,000 over the month but up 1,333,000 over the year.

Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.2%, or 6 cents, reaching $36.06. Over the past year, earnings have grown 3.8%. The average workweek for all employees stayed the same at 34.3 hours but ticked down 0.2 hour for manufacturing employees to 40.0 hours.