Brushing aside the disappointment of March, the US economy was seen adding 211,000 jobs in the month of April beating consensus estimates by a strong margin.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the unemployment rate in the United States fell to a 10-year low to 4.4% in April, down from 4.5% in March and sitting comfortably below the Fed’s median estimate of full employment at 4.8%.
The total number of hours worked rose 0.5% in April, while the average hourly earnings excluding the fringe benefits and irregular bonuses and commissions rose 0.3%. This pushed the total earnings to 0.7% in April, which was the highest in seven months. On a year over year basis, total earnings are up 4.3% compared to a year ago.
The U6 or the underemployment rate which is a broader measure of unemployment that accounts for part-time and discouraged workers looking for full-time employment fell to 8.6% from 8.9% a month ago marking one of the lowest levels seen since November of 2007.
Considered to be a major indicator of slack in the economy, the uptick in this data point is seen as one of the strong reasons for the Fed to maintain its hawkish bias.
Read more: https://www.orbex.com/blog/2017/05/us-unemployment-rate-hits-historical-low-april/