Employment Stays Strong in April – Defying Predictions

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) latest report, job creation exceeded expectations with April seeing 177,000 new positions added during the month. (This level of growth is above the 130-150,000 increase range estimated needed on a monthly basis to stay-up with growing demographics).

With respect to the construction job market, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment was measured at 5.6 percent for April, which is 0.4 (basis points) above the 2024 level for the same month. [April 2025’s unemployment number is also higher by 0.2 (basis points) above March ’25 figure]. Notwithstanding the numeric changes, overall employment in construction again changed little in April taking into account the typical seasonal upturn vs. the monthly trend-lines during the entire year.  However, federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April and is down by 26,000 since January. (NOTE: Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)

The overall U.S. unemployment level stayed the same at 4.2 percent. (“Unemployed persons” inched-up by 0.1, to 7.2 million per the government count). During month the “labor force participation rate” rose 0.1 to 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 saw a small increase of 0.1 (basis points) to 60.0 percent. [Both these 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 increased again to “crack” $31 dollars at $31.06 for private sector production and nonsupervisory employees.