April Unemployment Rate Falls To 6.3%, But The BLS Report A Mixed Bag

The April unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level since September 2008 as employers added 288,000 jobs, which is the most in two years and more than the 210,000 Wall Street was expecting.

The latest figures show the scapegoating of a harsh winter, blaming it for slower growth, was disingenuous.

The Labor Department Friday reported that the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent in March. However, because the number of people working or seeking work plunged last month, the increase in jobs disproportionately effected the unemployment rate, painting a rosier picture than reality. People aren’t counted as unemployed if they’re not looking for a job.

Still, employers also added more jobs in February and March than was previously reported, with job totals for the two months being revised upward by a total of 36,000 jobs.

Employers added an average of 238,000 jobs the past three months, which is up significantly from the 167,000 added to the US economy in the previous three.

Unlike most BLS reports in recent years, hiring last month was in a variety of sectors, including higher-paying jobs in manufacturing, which gained 12,000 positions. Construction, as well, added 32,000 new jobs. Professional and technical services, which include accounting and engineering positions, added 25,100 jobs.

The latest jobs reports comes after a large amount of other data showing that the economy is not growing. while consumers are increasing spending on health care, the US economy barely grew at all from January through March, with an annual growth rate of just 0.1 percent, down from a 2.6 percent rate in the final three months of 2013. Americans spent more last quarter on utilities and health care, but their spending on goods barely rose. Businesses also reduced spending, and exports fell.

Meanwhile, the latest news has prompted many economists to adjust their forecast to a 3.5 percent annual rate in the current April-June quarter, with growth projected to be roughly 3 percent for the full year.

That would be up from 1.9 percent in 2013.