Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined. This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical Note. Household Survey Data – The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent in April and has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent since May 2024. The number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little in April. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.7 percent), teenagers (12.9 percent), Whites (3.8 percent), Blacks (6.3 percent), Asians (3.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.2 percent) showed little or no change over the month. In April, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 179,000 to 1.7 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 23.5 percent of all unemployed people. Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.6 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.0 percent, changed little in April. These measures have shown little change over the year. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.7 million, changed little in April. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. In April, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.7 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.6 million, changed little in April. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, also changed little over the month at 414,000.
The Employment Situation (05-02-25)
- Economic Monthly Summaries, The Employment Situation
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