Job Market Erupts in April, Grows Well Beyond What Economists Expected
The U.S. job market smashed expectations in April, according to a new report that said private payrolls grew by 275,000 jobs.
Figures released Wednesday by ADP and Moody’s Analytics showed the strongest growth since July, when jobs increased 284,000.
Prior to the report being released, economists expected private payrolls to grow by 177,000 jobs, CNBC reported.
“April posted an uptick in growth after the first quarter appeared to signal a moderation following a strong 2018,” Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement.
“The bulk of the overall growth is with service providers, adding the strongest gain in more than two years,” he said, according to Fox Business Network.
Jobs in the service sector rose by 223,000 last month, the report said. Goods-producing jobs in construction, manufacturing and mining increased by 52,000, with 49,000 of those jobs in the construction sector.
Medium-size and small businesses led the way in adding new jobs, the report said.
“The job market is holding firm, as businesses work hard to fill open positions,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in a statement.
“The economic soft patch at the start of the year has not materially impacted hiring. April’s job gains overstate the economy’s strength, but they make the case that expansion continues on,” he said.
Zandi said the private data might paint a rosier picture than will official Labor Department figures that will be unveiled Friday.
President Donald Trump has been given widespread credit for the economic revival during his administration. A new NBC poll found 58 percent of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Meanwhile, a Gallup found only 13 percent of Americans polled this spring listed the economy as the nation’s biggest problem. Those who said it was a top problem reached as high as 40 percent in 2016, the year Trump was elected to the White House.
The president recently tweeted that the economy can do even better if the right Federal Reserve policies are pursued.
China is adding great stimulus to its economy while at the same time keeping interest rates low. Our Federal Reserve has incessantly lifted interest rates, even though inflation is very low, and instituted a very big dose of quantitative tightening. We have the potential to go…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019
….up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point, and some quantitative easing. Yes, we are doing very well at 3.2% GDP, but with our wonderfully low inflation, we could be setting major records &, at the same time, make our National Debt start to look small!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019
Job growth during the Trump administration is a powerful force in his bid for re-election, Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary for Trump’s 2020 campaign, said Monday on Fox News.
Speaking on “Outnumbered,” McEnany called the president a “savior” for blue-collar workers in contrast to former Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
“President Trump brought back manufacturing,” she said.
“For Joe Biden, for his job, we might as well call him Job-killing Joe,” McEnany said. “He oversaw and voted for NAFTA — it killed a million jobs. He wanted TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) — it would’ve killed half a million jobs.”
She said Trump will have a big advantage over Biden on the jobs front.
“When you lose 211,000 manufacturing jobs under Biden, and President Trump in two short years has brought back nearly half a million — Job-killing Joe, best of luck going into Pennsylvania,” she said.
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