The number of Americans employed increased in April, but significantly less than expected. As a result, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.1 percent. This is despite the opening of the economy and the advancing vaccinations.
In the US labor market, 266,000 employees were added in April. This is a significantly lower increase than analysts had generally expected. Especially after march employment increased by 770,000 people, and in light of the gradual loosening of anti-pandemic measures and the addition of millions more vaccinated Americans. The latest data was published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
April estimates ranged mostly from 800,000 to one million newly created jobs. Also due to the very low increase in the number of employees, the April unemployment rate eventually increased from six in March to 6.1 percent. More than 330,000 employees were added to the services and leisure sectors, but in other sectors, the number of employees was declining. This was mostly the case in the automotive or retail industries. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a sprint, it was going to be a marathon,” President Joe Biden said.
