Washington, D.C. — The economy added 160,000 jobs in April 2016, and the unemployment rate is at 5.0 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Center for American Progress Economist Michael Madowitz released the following statement on the April 2016 employment situation figures:
April 2016 marks the 74th straight month of private-sector job growth for the U.S. economy, with average growth of more than 200,000 jobs per month since March 2015. It scarcely makes headline news these days, but this robust job growth has been exceeding even some of the rosiest expectations of the markets and many economists. After a decade of experts reining in expectations about the long-term prospects of the U.S. economy, this year is changing minds.
Labor force participation also has improved over the past year—good news that belies a nearly flat headline unemployment rate since August. The economy has added about 1.5 million jobs since last summer. Moderate wage growth underscores the considerable slack in the labor market and the need for the Federal Reserve to stay the course on low interest rates. Coupled with gross domestic product and productivity data that show a calmly expanding economy, it’s hard to see a case for slowing things down.
Related resource: The State of the U.S. Labor Market: Pre-May 2016 Jobs Release by Michael Madowitz, Juliana Vigorito, and Shiv Rawal
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.