April 1997 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Unemployment declined in April, and nonfarm payroll employment rose modestly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The nation’s jobless rate fell from 5.2 to 4.9 percent. The number of payroll jobs rose by 142,000 in April, and average hourly earnings edged down by 1 cent.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons declined by 430,000 to 6.7 million, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point to 4.9 percent in April, after seasonal adjustment. All of the major demographic groups contributed to the improvement. The jobless rate for adult women decreased by 0.3 point to 4.4 percent, the rate for blacks fell by 0.9 point to 9.8 percent, and the rate for whites dropped by 0.3 point to 4.2 percent. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

Among the unemployed, the number of persons in the newly jobless category--those who had been looking for work fewer than 5 weeks--declined in April, as did the number who had been looking for work for 5 to 14 weeks. The number of unemployed persons who had lost their job and did not expect to be recalled also decreased over the month. (See tables A-5 and A-6.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was about unchanged in April, following a substantial gain in March. The proportion of the population with jobs (the employment- population ratio) remained at 63.8 percent, the highest level since the series began. (See table A-1.)

Approximately 7.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in April, comprising 6.1 percent of all employed persons. (See table A-9.)

Both the civilian labor force, 136.1 million persons (seasonally adjusted), and the labor force participation rate, 67.2 percent, were essentially unchanged in April. The labor force has shown substantial growth since the beginning of last year. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in April--that is, they wanted and were available for work, and had looked for jobs sometime in the prior 12 months. The number of discouraged workers--a subset of the marginally attached who were not currently looking for jobs specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them or there were none for which they would qualify--was 379,000 in April. (See table A-9.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 142,000 in April to 121.6 million, after seasonal adjustment. Job gains in many of the service- producing industries were offset somewhat by declines in construction and manufacturing. (See table B-1.)

The services industry added 93,000 jobs in April, in line with the average monthly change for the past year. Health services and engineering and management services recorded strong increases of 34,000 and 29,000, respectively. Social services had a relatively large job gain for the second month in a row. In contrast, business services added only 19,000 jobs, as continued expansion in computer and data processing employment was partly offset by a small decline in help supply services. Job growth in help supply services has been both slow and sporadic since August. Employment in amusement and recreation services declined in April, reflecting, in part, slow seasonal hiring due to unusually cold weather during the survey reference period.

In April, job growth continued in finance and real estate; insurance also posted a gain. Strong job growth continued in transportation and communications for the fourth consecutive month. Retail trade added 32,000 jobs in April, somewhat below the average monthly gain of the past year. An employment increase of 46,000 in eating and drinking places offset a loss of similar magnitude in March. Employment in general merchandise stores declined in April, following a large increase in the prior month. Employment in wholesale trade was unchanged in April after 2 months of growth.

Government employment rose by 32,000 in April. The noneducation component of local government increased by 19,000, following 2 months without growth. Federal employment, which was unchanged over the month, has declined by 275,000 since the most recent peak in May 1992.

Construction employment fell by 44,000 in April (after seasonal adjustment); it had declined by 25,000 in March. Unfavorable weather in both months contributed to this weakness. In contrast, the industry had a substantial employment gain in February, when the weather was much warmer than normal.

Manufacturing employment declined by 14,000 in April, following a gain of 75,000 over the prior 6 months. Motor vehicles and equipment lost 13,000 jobs in April, mostly due to temporary shutdowns for inventory control and a strike of 3,500 workers. Employment growth continued in industrial machinery, fabricated metals, and aircraft; gains in these three industries totaled 14,000 over the month and 102,000 over the past year.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.3 hour in April, to 34.6 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 42.2 hours, matching its post-World War II high reached in January 1995. Factory overtime edged up to 5.0 hours, the highest level since the series began in 1956. (See table B-2.)

Reflecting the decline in the average workweek, the index of aggregate weekly hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls dropped by 0.8 percent to 139.6 (1982=100) in April, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The manufacturing index, in contrast, edged up by 0.2 percent to 107.6. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers edged down 1 cent in April to $12.14, seasonally adjusted, following gains totaling 11 cents in the first quarter. Average weekly earnings were down 0.9 percent to $420.04 in April. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.6 percent and average weekly earnings by 4.5 percent. (See table B-3.)