With this morning’s numbers, April’s Job Report and March’s Job Opening Survey have finally shown some cooling in the U.S. labor market; job growth slowed dramatically in the month of April. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March, the U.S. economy added only 175,000 new Nonfarm payroll jobs. With at least 235,000 jobs expected to be created, and the 315,000 new Nonfarm payroll jobs that were created in March, the Federal Reserve, as well as the rest of us who watch these numbers, is surprised at the dramatically smaller numbers coming out this week. Now, the stock market is up higher due to the indication that inflation is starting to ease. March’s job opening report, along with February’s, saw the number of new jobs decreased by 22,000. Unemployment increased slightly to 3.9% from 3.8% in March. This means that there are roughly 6.5 million unemployed people in the U.S, with experts still touting these numbers as the lowest in several decades. The number of jobs in the Transportation and Warehouse industries rose by around 22,000 for April, a surprising change from this static field over the past year.
March's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
At the end of March, job openings fell substantially to 8.5 million jobs. That is a drop of almost 300,000 jobs. Hires decreased for the finance and insurance industries by 158,000. Construction jobs also saw a decrease by roughly 182,000, almost decimating the gains from earlier in the year. State and local government education had one of the few increases; jobs grew by 68,000.
The quit rate and the number of layoffs both saw decreases as well, with 3.3 million and 1.5 million, respectively. While the Federal Reserve says this will not affect their decision to raise or lower interest rates, they have held the rate at the same level for their sixth straight meeting.
April's Jobs Report
For the month of April, the big surprise is that Non-farm payrolls grew by only 175,000. Experts believe that this is an indication that the economy is finally starting to calm the inflationary spiral the economy seemed to be stuck in; everyone, however, would like to believe that inflation is slowing down, but that doesn’t mean that that is the case. The Federal Reserve was quick to remind the financial world that this is only one report that is showing an inflation slowdown. With the unemployment rate rising back up to 3.9% and wages staying roughly the same, many in the financial industry are heaving huge sighs of relief, and the stock market is surging with the news. The labor force participation rate for April, however, remained about the same at 62.7%.
Now, halfway through the spring of 2024, the Healthcare industry saw the largest increases in the number of jobs, adding an additional 56,000 jobs in April; this gives them an average monthly gain of 63,000 over the past twelve months. In Retail Trade, new jobs came in at 20,000; the biggest gains have been in General Merchandise (+10,000), Building Materials and Garden Equipment (+7,000), and health and personal care retailers (+5,000). In a surprising turn, though, Transportation and Warehousing jobs saw some big changes in April. For the first time in almost a year, the industry added 22,000 jobs; there were 8,000 added for couriers and 8,000 added in warehousing and storage. The LZBlog will be studying this further as more reports come out to see if the growth in the Transportation and Warehousing industry creates a ripple effect in other areas.
Conclusion
The April Jobs Report and the March Job Opening and Turnover Survey came out this week with new surprises. While inflation seems to be calming, the Federal Reserve is urging caution with these numbers. Holding interest rates steady for another session, the LZBlog will be watching to see what happens next. Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to see!
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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