Defying expectations, nonfarm payrolls saw an increase of 850,000 last month, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.
That figure was significantly up over the last report, pegging national job gains at 583,000, and a substantial improvement over April of 2020, during the first full month of the pandemic, when job losses were in excess of 21 million.
The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, has dropped from nearly 15% in April of last year to 5.9% today.
Although that 5.9%, according to labor analysts, shows real progress, it is still more than the historic 3.5% jobless rate in February of 2020, one month before the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to the BLS, the new numbers reveal particular gains in “leisure and hospitality, public and private education, professional and business services, retail trade, and other services.”
The report also indicates that residential construction firms have seen their payrolls increase by more than 51,000 workers; even as the nonresidential sector declined by 7,000 workers.
By Garry Boulard