April 2025 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.

(NOTE: BLS reissued this news release on June 3, 2025, to note that this release contains minor data errors associated with the introduction in April 2025 of a redesigned sample for the household survey. These errors pertain only to the April 2025 household survey data in this release. Major labor force measures, such as the unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, and employment-population ratio were unaffected. While this error affected many estimates, the impact was negligible. This release was not updated to reflect the corrected household survey estimates.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical Note.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent in April and has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent since May 2024. The number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little in April. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.7 percent), teenagers (12.9 percent), Whites (3.8 percent), Blacks (6.3 percent), Asians (3.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.2 percent) showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In April, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 179,000 to 1.7 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 23.5 percent of all unemployed people. (See table A-12.)

Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.6 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.0 percent, changed little in April. These measures have shown little change over the year. (See table A-1.)

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.7 million, changed little in April. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)

In April, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.7 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.6 million, changed little in April. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, also changed little over the month at 414,000. (See Summary table A.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 177,000 in April, roughly in line with the average monthly gain of 152,000 over the prior 12 months. In April, employment continued to trend up in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined. (See table B-1.)

Health care added 51,000 jobs in April, about the same as the average monthly gain of 52,000 over the prior 12 months. In April, job growth continued in hospitals (+22,000) and ambulatory health care services (+21,000).

Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000 in April, following little change in the prior month (+3,000). Job gains occurred in warehousing and storage (+10,000), couriers and messengers (+8,000), and air transportation (+3,000) in April. Transportation and warehousing had added an average of 12,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months.

In April, financial activities employment continued to trend up (+14,000). The industry has added 103,000 jobs since its employment trough in April 2024.

Employment in social assistance continued its upward trend in April (+8,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+20,000).

Within government, federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April and is down by 26,000 since January. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the establishment survey.)

Employment showed little or no change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $36.06. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8 percent. In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $31.06. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.3 hours in April. In manufacturing, the average workweek edged down by 0.2 hour to 40.0 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 2.9 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours in April. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised down by 15,000, from +117,000 to +102,000, and the change for March was revised down by 43,000, from +228,000 to +185,000. With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 58,000 lower than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)