U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Up 266K, Unemployment Rose to 6.1% in April -- Update
May 07 2021 - 9:24AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Chaney Cambon
U.S. employers added a modest 266,000 jobs in April and
unemployment rose to 6.1%, signaling a potential slowdown in
economic momentum as some businesses struggled to find workers and
faced supply-chain issues.
The deceleration came after payrolls rose a downwardly revised
770,000 in March and an upward revision of 536,000 in February, the
Labor Department said Friday. Unemployment rose from 6% a month
earlier, but more people entered the workforce in April.
Higher vaccination rates, fiscal stimulus and easing business
restrictions are converging to support stronger spending across the
U.S. But many businesses are reporting they can't find enough
workers, a phenomenon that could restrain economic growth in the
coming months.
The leisure and hospitality sector, including restaurants,
accounted for the bulk of employment creation in April, adding
331,000 jobs. The Labor Department said that reflected an easing of
pandemic-related restrictions in many parts of the country.
Those gains were partly offset by job losses in several other
sectors. Temporary-help employment declined by 111,000 last month,
manufacturing employment was down 18,000--predominately in motor
vehicles where chip shortages idled some factories. Retail jobs
fell by 15,000 and healthcare jobs declined by 4,000.
Write to Sarah Chaney Cambon at sarah.chaney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2021 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)
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