April jobs report preview: Payroll growth set to persist as jobless rate improves to pre-virus low
Yahoo Finance
April jobs report preview: Payroll growth set to persist as jobless rate improves to pre-virus low
Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, May 5, 2022, 2:49 PM
U.S. job growth likely remained robust in April as the unemployment rate improved to its pre-virus low, further underscoring the still-tight domestic labor market.
The Labor Department is set to release its monthly jobs report for April on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here are the main metrics expected from the print, compared with consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:
Non-farm payrolls: +380,000 expected, +431,000 in March
Unemployment rate: 3.5% expected, 3.6% in March
Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: 0.4% expected, 0.4% in March
Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: 5.5% expected, 5.6% in March
The U.S. economy has brought back an average of over half a million payrolls per month so far in 2022. At 380,000, the expected payroll additions for April would mark the least in a year, but still represent growth well-above pre-pandemic trends. Throughout 2019, payroll growth had averaged about 164,000 per month.
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