June 20, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — American employers added 177,000 jobs in April. Hiring was down slightly from a revised 185,000 in March and came in above economists’ expectations for a modest 135,000. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Transportation and warehousing companies added 29,000 jobs last month, suggesting that companies have been stocking up before essential, imported goods are hit with a wave of new tariffs. Healthcare companies added nearly 51,000 jobs and bars, restaurants almost 17,000 and construction firms 11,000. Factories lost 1,000 jobs.
Labor Department revisions shaved 58,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.
Average hourly earnings ticked up 0.2% from March and 3.8% from a year ago, nearing the 3.5% that economists view as consistent with the 2% inflation the Federal Reserve wants to see.
The report showed that 518,000 people entered the labor force, and the percentage of those working or looking for work ticked up slightly.
“We are not seeing right now any really adverse effects on the employment market,’’ Boston College economist Brian Bethune said before the report came out.
Many employers don’t want to risk letting employees go – not after seeing how hard it was to bring people back from the massive but short-lived layoffs of the 2020 COVID-19 recession.
“They laid millions of these people off, and they had a hell of a time getting them back to work,’’ Boston College’s Bethune said. "So for now, the unemployment rate and the number of people filing claims for jobless benefits every week remain low by historical standards.
The federal government’s workforce fell by 9,000 on top of 17,000 job losses in February and March.
