In BLS’s report for April 2023, job increases held steady at 258,000 new positions according to the latest figures. (Comfortably above the 130-150,000 estimated increase needed on a monthly basis to stay-up with growing demographics). The non-seasonally adjusted construction unemployment slipped to 4.1 percent in April, consistent with the expanding seasonal spring work trends. [The new figure is down 1.5 basis points vs. March; while also down 0.5 points from last April 2022]. Construction employment remained steady for the month in line with the prior 6 months.
General unemployment slide another 0.1 to 3.4 percent. (“Unemployed persons” went down to 5.7 million per the government count). The “labor force participation rate” stayed at 62.6 percent. [NOTE: The “labor force participation” rate “typically” works inversely to the overall unemployment figures. Meaning: as it deteriorates/gets worse or smaller, it actually is counted as improving unemployment (i.e., people leaving the workforce are no longer counted as unemployed by the DOL). The “employment to population ratio” also remained stagnant at 60.4 percent. [Both measures haven’t reached their pre-Covid levels yet; if people were actually seeking jobs, the unemployment rate would be approximately 5.0% ]. Average hourly earnings continues to increase, now standing at $28.62 for private sector production and nonsupervisory employees. SEE Workforce Statistics Chart