Bureau Of Labor Statistics Jobs Report – Released May 2022

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that were 428,000 jobs created in April, which was just above market expectations. There were a -39,000 revision to February and March, which tempers the optimism slightly. The Unemployment Rate remained at a very strong 3.6%, but did not decline to 3.5% as expected. The unemployment rate is derived from the household survey, which has its own job creation component. Within the household survey there were 353,000 job losses, while the labor force decreased by 363,000, which is why the unemployment rate remained the same. This means that the unemployment rate remained stable for the wrong reasons – It was not due to strong job growth, but rather more people leaving the labor force than job losses. The labor force participation declined from 62.4% to 62.2%, which was beneath expectations and about 1.2% below where it was pre-Covid. Average hourly earnings were up 0.3% in April and are up 5.5% year over year. Average weekly earnings were up 0.3% and are up 4.6% year over year.