Overview
- The Labor Department report released Friday showed 115,000 payroll gains and a 4.3% jobless rate, beating forecasts of roughly 55,000 to 65,000.
- Hiring clustered in health care (+37,000), transportation and warehousing (+30,000), and retail (+22,000), while federal jobs fell by 9,000 and information-sector payrolls dropped by 13,000.
- Prior months were revised, with February lowered to a 156,000 loss and March raised to 185,000, underscoring a choppy trend that has swung between gains and declines since mid‑2025.
- Signs of strain grew as the number working part time for economic reasons jumped by 445,000 to 4.9 million and newly unemployed rose by 358,000 to 2.5 million.
- Wages rose 0.2% on the month and 3.6% over the year, and higher fuel costs tied to the Iran conflict reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged.