Employment April

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until

USDL-11-0622

8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, May 6, 2011

Technical information:Household data: (202) 691-6378 • cpsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cpsEstablishment data: (202) 691-6555 • cesinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cesMedia contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov

T

HE

E

MPLOYMENT

S

ITUATION

–

A

PRIL

2011

Nonfarm payroll employment

rose by 244,000 in April, and the

unemployment rate

edged up to 9.0percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in several service-providing industries, manufacturing, and mining.

-1000-800-600-400-2000200400600

Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Apr-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11 Apr-11

Thousands

Chart 2. Nonfarm payroll employment over-the-monthchange, seasonally adjusted, April 2009 –April 2011

Percent

4.05.06.07.08.09.010.011.0

Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Apr-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11 Apr-11

Chart 1. Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted,April 2009 –April 2011

Household Survey Data

The number of

unemployed persons

,

at 13.7 million, changed little in April. The

unemployment rate

edged up from 8.8 to 9.0 percent over the month but was 0.8 percentage point lower than in November.The labor force also was little changed in April. (See table A-1.)Among the

major worker groups

, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.8 percent), adult women(7.9 percent), teenagers (24.9 percent), whites (8.0 percent), blacks (16.1 percent), and Hispanics (11.8percent) showed little change in April. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.4 percent, not seasonallyadjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)The number of persons

unemployed for less than 5 weeks

increased by 242,000 in April. The numberof

long-term unemployed

(those jobless for 27 weeks and over) declined by 283,000 to 5.8 million;their share of unemployment declined to 43.4 percent. (See table A-12.)

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The

civilian labor force participation rate

was 64.2 percent for the fourth consecutive month. The

employment-population ratio

, at 58.4 percent, changed little in April. (See table A-1.)The number of persons employed

part time for economic reasons

(sometimes referred to asinvoluntary part-time workers) was little changed over the month, at 8.6 million. These individuals wereworking part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)In April, 2.5 million persons were

marginally attached to the labor force

,about the same as a yearearlier.(These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wantedand were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were notcounted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.(See table A-16.)Among the marginally attached, there were 989,000

discouraged workers

in April, a decline of 208,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are personsnot currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5million persons marginally attached to the labor force in April had not searched for work in the 4 weekspreceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total

nonfarm payroll employment

increased by 244,000 in April, and the private sector added268,000 jobs. Employment rose in a number of service-providing industries, manufacturing, and mining.Since a recent low in February 2010, total payroll employment has grown by 1.8 million. Private sectoremployment has increased by 2.1 million over the same period. (See table B-1.)In April, employment in

retail trade

rose by 57,000. Within the industry, employment in generalmerchandise stores increased by 27,000, offsetting a decline of similar magnitude in the prior month.Elsewhere in retail trade, April job gains occurred in electronics and appliance stores (+6,000), buildingmaterial and garden supply stores (+6,000), and automobile dealers (+5,000).Employment in

professional and business services

continued to expand in April, with an increase of 51,000. Job gains occurred in management and technical consulting services (+11,000) and in computersystems design and related services (+8,000). Employment in temporary help services was little changedover the month, following an increase of 34,000 in March.

Health care

continued to add jobs in April (+37,000). Within health care, job gains continued inambulatory health care (+22,000) and hospitals (+10,000).Employment in

leisure and hospitality

continued to increase in April (+46,000). Over the past 3months, this industry added 151,000 jobs, with nearly two-thirds of the growth in food services anddrinking places.Employment in both

state

government

and

local government

continued to trend down, with Aprillosses concentrated in the non-educational components. Elsewhere in the service-providing sector,employment in

information

,

financial activities

, and

transportation and warehousing

changed littlein April.In the goods-producing sector of the economy,

manufacturing

employment rose by 29,000 in April.Since reaching an employment low in December 2009, manufacturing has added 250,000 jobs, including

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141,000 in 2011. Over the month, employment growth continued in machinery (+5,000), primary metals(+4,000), and computer and electronic products (+4,000).

Mining

added 11,000 jobs in April. More than half of the gain occurred in support activities for mining.Since a recent low point in October 2009, employment in mining has increased by 107,000.

Construction

employment was about unchanged in April. This industry has shown little net movementsince early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the prior 3 years.The

average workweek for all employees

on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 34.3 hours in April.The manufacturing workweek for all employees, at 40.4 hours, also was unchanged over the month,while factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.3 hours. The average workweek for

production andnonsupervisory employees

on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in April at 33.6 hours. (Seetables B-2 and B-7.)In April,

average hourly earnings for all employees

on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 3 cents,or 0.1 percent, to $22.95. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 1.9 percent. InApril, average hourly earnings of private-sector

production and nonsupervisory employees

rose by 5cents, or 0.3 percent, to $19.37. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +194,000 to +235,000,and the change for March was revised from +216,000 to +221,000.

______________The Employment Situation for May is scheduled to be released on Friday, June 3, 2011, at 8:30a.m. (EDT).