So, like, job growth in April was s’posed to be all weak and stuff ’cause of Trump’s tariffs on trading partners, right? But surprise surprise, nonfarm payrolls actually went up by 177,000, which is a bit less than March but better than what Dow Jones thought. The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2%, like, no biggie, showing that the job market is kinda stable. People in households were like, “Hey, I got a job now,” with 436,000 more peeps reporting employment. The unemployment rate for, like, discouraged workers and part-timers dropped to 7.8%. Labor force participation went up a bit to 62.6%. Stock market futures were all happy and stuff after this news.
Seema Shah from Principal Asset Management was all like, “We can chill on the whole recession thing for a bit. Job numbers look good, showing the economy was pretty sturdy before the tariff drama.” She thinks the economy might take a hit in the future, but with this momentum, the US could dodge a recession if they back off the tariffs in time.
Trump was all gung-ho at the start of April with his 10% tariffs, but then he was like, “Wait, let’s chill for 90 days,” while he negotiates with other countries. The White House peeps are hinting at deals in the works, but nothing official yet. Traders are now thinking interest rates won’t go down until July.
Health care was the star in job creation with 51,000 new jobs. Transportation, finance, and social assistance also saw gains. The federal government lost 9,000 jobs ’cause of Trump’s payroll cuts. Manufacturing took a slight hit too.
Daniel Zhao from Glassdoor was like, “It’s too soon to see the tariff impact in this report.” He thinks it might even take until May for businesses to feel the pinch. But this report gives us a baseline to measure those impacts. Wages only went up by 0.2% for the month and 3.8% yearly, which was lower than expected.
The Fed is meeting next week, and they’re worried about inflation from the tariffs. They’ll probs keep rates steady for now, but peeps are betting on a cut in July. Trump’s out there saying, “Yo, Fed, lower the rates already! No inflation here!”
So, like, job numbers were better than expected in April despite the whole tariff drama. Let’s see how things play out in the coming months.
