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The United States job market saw a slowdown in April, with 175,000 jobs added, falling short of the predicted 233,000. This figure is a significant decrease from the 315,000 jobs added in March. Despite this slowdown, the unemployment rate remained below 4% for the 27th consecutive month, tying the longest such streak since the 1960s.
The Federal Reserve, which has kept interest rates at a two-decade high to combat inflation, is likely to welcome this moderation in hiring and wage growth. Hourly wages rose by a less-than-expected 0.2% from March and 3.9% from a year earlier, marking the smallest annual gain since June 2021.
The Fed has been delaying any consideration of interest rate cuts until it gains more confidence that inflation is steadily slowing toward its 2% target. The central bank raised its benchmark rate 11 times from March 2022 to July 2023, taking it to the highest level since 2001.
Despite the high interest rates, the job market has proven more robust than predicted. However, there are signs of a potential slowdown. For instance, job openings fell in March to 8.5 million, the fewest in more than three years. Yet, this is still a large number of vacancies, exceeding the 8 million mark every month since March 2021.
The slowdown in hiring was led by healthcare companies, which added 56,000 jobs. Warehouse and transportation companies added 22,000, and retailers added 20,000. Government at all levels added just 8,000 jobs in April, the lowest monthly total since December 2022.