115,000 jobs created in April, black unemployment rate falls to 13 percent
MSNBC - The U.S. economy generated fewer jobs than expected in April, but the unemployment rate dipped slightly and data from prior months was revised upward...
MSNBC: The U.S. economy generated fewer jobs than expected in April, but the unemployment rate dipped slightly and data from prior months was revised upward, painting a murky picture of labor market conditions. African-American unemployment dipped to 1 percent to 13 percent in April, while black teen unemployment dropped from 40.5 to 38.2 percent.
It was the second straight month that hiring slowed in the U.S. and it raises concerns, six months before Americans go to the polls to choose either President Barack Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney as president, that the nation’s job-creating machine is sputtering.
The Labor Department said Friday that non-farm payrolls rose by 115,000 last month, much lower than the consensus estimate of about 165,000. The jobless rate slid a notch to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent, as more people left the work force.
Still, the government revised upward its initial estimates for payroll growth in February and March by a combined 53,000. That left the six-month average of job growth at 197,000, nearly exactly where it would have been had April job growth come in as expected at 170,000.
“We’re still growing just gradually,” said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.
“Hiring is coming back into line with what you would expect with sluggish growth.”
The report, which regularly sets the tone for financial markets around the world, could rattle nerves at the White House. Weak U.S. growth and high unemployment create a formidable headwind for Obama, who entered office during the darkest days of the 2007-09 recession.
Romney repeatedly has accused Obama of doing too little to foster job growth.
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