WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers a delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from theIran war.
Hiring was better than the 65,000 forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%.
The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent averageU.S. gasoline pricessurging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far.
Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and transportation and warehousing companies 30,000. However,manufacturerscut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs.
Labor Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from March and 3.6% from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.
The number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped last month, and the share of those working or looking for work — the so-called labor force participation rate — dropped to 61.8%, lowest since October 2021.
Baby Boomer retirements and Trump’simmigration crackdownmean that fewer people are competing for work and that the economy doesn’t need to generate as many jobs as it used to.
Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics says the so-called break-even point — the number of new jobs required each month to keep the unemployment rate from rising — is now near zero.
After the U.S. and Israellaunched their attacksFeb. 28, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. The disruption has caused apainful increasein the price of energy and led many economists to downgrade their estimates for global and U.S. economic growth.
Source: Drudge Report
