May 7, 2021

April 2021 Jobs Report

Unemployment Rate: 6.1 percent

Jobs Created: 266,000

Employment and Unemployment

  1. The Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 6.1% in April.

  2. Nonfarm jobs increased by 266,000 in April.

  3. In February and March, job creation was weaker than first reported. The department revised the change in nonfarm jobs for those months down by a net 78,000 jobs.      

  4. The U-6 unemployment rate, a broader measure that includes part-time and discouraged workers, decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 10.4% in April.

Labor Force Participation

  1. The labor force participation rate, the share of people employed or looking for work, edged up 0.2 percentage point to 61.7%.

Wages

  1. In April, average hourly earnings for all employees in private nonfarm jobs increased by $0.21 to $30.17.

Issue Tag: Labor