US employers added 115,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%, a surprisingly robust gain to the labor market as the US-Israel war with Iran continued to drive up economic uncertainty.
Economists projected about 55,000 new jobs and a 4.3% unemployment rate. A day earlier, the labor department announced 200,000 people filed for weekly unemployment benefits, a slight increase from the week before.
Jobs gains were concentrated in healthcare, transportation and warehousing, retail, and social assistance. Altogether, 106,000 new jobs were added to those four industries.
Meanwhile, job losses were seen in federal government employment – which is down 348,000 since November 2024 – and the information sector.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote on social media on Friday that the April jobs report “smash[ed] expectations”.
“Yet another sign that the American economy remains on a solid trajectory under President Trump,” he said.
A series of major changes over the last year – tariffs, government layoffs, changing immigration policies and, now, rising oil prices amid conflict in the Middle East – have rattled the US economy and destabilized the labor market.
The new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also included revisions to previous job figures. Last month, employers added 185,000 jobs, far exceeding economists’ expectations of about 70,000. But in February, the US lost 156,000 jobs – initially reported as a drop of 92,000 jobs – an unexpected and major contraction just before the US-Israel war in Iran.
Private employers added 109,000 jobs in April, the largest increase in job growth since January 2025, according to the payroll firm ADP. Healthcare industry jobs continued to fuel growth, along with modest increases in construction, trade, transportation and utilities industries. Professional industries, however, lost 8,000 jobs.
“Small and large employers are hiring, but we’re seeing softness in the middle,” Dr Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Large companies have resources to deploy, and small ones are the most nimble, both important advantages in a complex labor environment.”
The US Federal Reserve cited slow job growth among several factors in its decision to keep rates steady last month, alongside elevated inflation and continued conflict in the Middle East.
Fluctuating economic data adds to the uncertainty casting a shadow over the Fed. Last month, the outgoing chair, Jerome Powell, announced he will remain on the Fed’s board as a governor even after Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to lead the central bank, is sworn in. Powell said he will stay on until investigations into renovations at Fed headquarters are “well and truly over with transparency and finality”, citing concerns that the Fed will be “pulled into politics”.
Meanwhile, Warsh is under pressure from the White House to usher in lower interest rates, though he cannot do so without the support of the other 12 voting members of the Fed’s board.
The Fed wields immense influence over the state of unemployment and inflation in the US, and must set rates to fulfill its dual mandate of maximizing employment while maintaining stable prices.