April 2000 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.

Employment rose in April, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 340,000; this includes 73,000 temporary workers added to assist with the decennial census. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents in April and by 3.8 percent over the year.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The unemployment rate, which has been below 4.2 percent since October, edged down to 3.9 percent in April. This is the first time the rate has been below 4.0 percent since January 1970. The jobless rate for Hispanics decreased to 5.4 percent in April. The unemployment rates for the other major worker groups--adult men (3.2 percent), adult women (3.5 percent), teenagers (12.7 percent), whites (3.5 percent), and blacks (7.2 percent)-- were about unchanged over the month. The number of unemployed persons was 5.5 million. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force increased by 363,000 over the month to 141.2 million. The labor force participation rate was 67.5 percent, little changed from March. (See table A-1.)

Total employment rose by 547,000 in April to 135.7 million. The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and older with jobs--increased to 64.9 percent, a record high.

About 7.7 million workers (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in April, about the same as a year earlier. These multiple jobholders represented 5.7 percent of total employment. (See table A-10.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.2 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in April. These people wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they had not actively searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers was 330,000, up from 245,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. (See table A-10.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 340,000 in April to 131.1 million. This follows an increase of 458,000 (as revised) in March. Job gains in both months reflect, in part, the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2000--117,000 in March and 73,000 in April. Among private-sector industries, large job gains occurred in services and retail trade in April, while construction employment declined. (See table B-1.)

Employment in the services industry grew by 121,000 in April, in line with its average monthly gain for the prior 12 months. Business services added 55,000 jobs in April, following a similarly strong gain in March. Within business services, help supply services added 46,000 jobs over the month, bringing its total gain since January to 94,000. Employment in computer services grew by 8,000; while still adding jobs at a rapid pace, the industry has experienced smaller employment gains since August 1999. Motion pictures rebounded from losses in the prior 2 months by adding 9,000 jobs. Employment also rose over the month in amusement and recreation services and in hotels. Engineering and management services employment showed little change in April.

Retail trade added 119,000 jobs in April. The largest employment gains were in eating and drinking places (80,000) and food stores (20,000). Eating and drinking places had shown virtually no change in employment during the first quarter of the year; employment in food stores has had almost no growth for several years. Building materials and garden supplies stores lost 8,000 jobs in April, following an above-average gain in March. Employment in wholesale trade was little changed in April.

Transportation added 27,000 jobs over the month, with the largest increases in trucking and warehousing, local and interurban transit, and transportation services. The gain of 10,000 jobs in trucking follows relatively weak growth in the first quarter.

Finance, insurance, and real estate employment was up by 7,000 in April. In finance, security brokerages added 8,000 jobs, while employment declines continued in mortgage brokerages. Since May 1999, mortgage brokerages have lost 33,000 jobs. In April, employment in both insurance and real estate was about unchanged.

Government added 107,000 jobs in April, largely due to the hiring of an additional 73,000 temporary workers by the federal government for Census 2000. Employment in local education increased by 33,000 in April, after seasonal adjustment, following little growth in the first quarter.

In the goods-producing sector, construction employment declined by 55,000 in April, seasonally adjusted, following a substantial rise in March. Because the March survey reference period was relatively late in the month, some of the spring hiring that usually occurs between March and April was captured in March this year instead of April. Taking March and April together, construction employment rose by an average of 18,000 a month.

Manufacturing employment was up by 11,000 in April, following a somewhat larger loss in March (after adjustment for the return of 15,000 workers from strike). In April, the largest employment increase was in electrical equipment (8,000), which has added 21,000 jobs thus far in 2000. Fabricated metals and food products each added 5,000 jobs in April. Aircraft manufacturing employment continued on its downward trend with the loss of 4,000 jobs.

Mining added 4,000 jobs, as employment in oil and gas extraction continued to rise. Since its most recent low point in August 1999, oil and gas employment has grown by 20,000.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour in April to 34.6 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.4 hour to 42.1 hours. Manufacturing overtime rose by 0.3 hour to 4.9 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.5 percent to 151.5 (1982=100), seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index was up by 1.1 percent to 107.2. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents in April to $13.64, seasonally adjusted. Over the month, average weekly earnings increased by 0.7 percent to $471.94. Over the year, average hourly earnings rose by 3.8 percent and average weekly earnings grew by 4.4 percent. (See table B-3.)