WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. employers added a robust 263,000 jobs in April, suggesting that businesses have shrugged off earlier concerns that the economy might slow this year and now anticipate strong customer demand.
The unemployment rate fell to a five-decade low of 3.6% from 3.8%, though that drop reflected a rise in the number of people who stopped looking for work. Average hourly pay rose 3.2% from 12 months earlier, a healthy increase that matched the increase in March.
Fridays jobs report from the Labor Department showed that solid economic growth is still encouraging strong hiring nearly a decade into the economys recovery from the Great Recession. The economic expansion is set to become the longest in history in July.
The broader economy remains on solid footing, meaning that coming months will see continued job gains and faster wage growth, said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp.
Trump administration officials insisted that the job markets gains were a result of the presidents tax cuts and deregulatory policies.
We have entered a very strong and durable prosperity cycle, said Larry Kudlow, director of the White Houses National Economic Council.
President Donald Trump has also pressed the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates because inflation remains low. But most economists said the healthy jobs picture, against the backdrop of low inflation, would reinforce the Feds current wait-and-see approach. The Fed raised rates four times last year but has signaled that it doesnt foresee any rate increases this year.
Stock investors welcomed Fridays jobs data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 135 points, or 0.5%, in mid-day trading.
The brightening economic picture represents a sharp improvement from the start of the year. At the time, the government was enduring a partial shutdown, the stock market had plunged, trade tensions between the United States and China were flaring and the Fed had just raised short-term rates in December. Analysts worried that the economy might barely expand in the first three months of the year.
Yet the outlook soon brightened. Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the Fed would put rate hikes on hold. Trade negotiations between the U.S. and China made some progress. The economic outlook in some other major economies improved. Share prices rebounded.
And in the end, the government reported that the U.S. economy grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the January-March period the strongest pace for a first quarter since 2015. That said, the growth was led mostly by factors that could prove temporary a restocking of inventories in warehouses and on store shelves and a narrowing of the U.S. trade deficit. By contrast, consumer spending and business investment, which more closely reflect the economys underlying strength, were relatively weak.
But American households have become more confident since the winter and are ramping up spending. Consumer spending surged in March by the most in nearly a decade. A likely factor is that steady job growth and solid wage increases have enlarged Americans paychecks.
Businesses are also spending more freely. Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting capital goods jumped in March by the most in eight months. That suggested that companies were buying more computers, machinery and other equipment to keep up with growing customer demand.
Many businesses say theyre struggling to find workers, yet each month they seem to add a substantial number. Some have taken a range of steps to fill jobs, including training more entry-level workers, loosening educational requirements and raising pay sharply.
Years of steady hiring have sharply lowered unemployment for a range of population groups. The unemployment rate for women fell last month to 3.1%, the lowest point since 1953. The rate for Latinos dropped to 4.2%, a record low since 1973, when the government began tracking the data.