Hiring was surprisingly strong in April for the second month in a row, signaling the labor market may be withstanding pressures from higher energy costs amid the Iran war for now.
US employers added 115,000 jobs in April – about twice the amount analysts had expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%.
Revisions to the previous two months lowered total job growth by 16,000 jobs. Job growth in March was revised upward to 185,000. February’s losses increased to 156,000.
But results from month-to-month have been especially volatile, meaning the last three months have averaged just 48,000 jobs – what is usually considered an anemic pace of job growth.
