U.S. Adds 253K Jobs in April, Topping Expectations for 180K

The U.S. added 253,000 jobs in April, up from a downwardly revised 165,000 in March and ahead of economist forecasts for 180,000, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The unemployment rate was 3.4%, down from 3.5% in March and against expectations for 3.6%.

The price of bitcoin (BTC) fell about 1% to $28,900 in the minutes following the news.

Though slowing modestly in recent months, the employment picture has remained strong, giving the U.S. Federal Reserve reason to continue to hike interest rates to try and bring inflation down to its 2% target. At its meeting earlier this week, the Fed raised the benchmark fed funds for a 10th-consecutive time – bringing the targeted range to 5.0%-5.25% – but did indicate it might consider a pause in its rate hike cycle going forward.

While Friday morning’s headline jobs number is a strong one, downward revisions to February (326K to 248K) and March (236K to 165K) knocked a total 149,000 in gains from those two reports. The average job gain over the past three months is 222,000.

Checking other details from the April report shows average hourly earnings ahead 0.5% for the month, up from 0.3% in March and higher than 0.3% forecast. On a year-over-year basis, average hourly earnings were up 4.4% in April versus 4.3% in March and against expectations for 4.2%.