Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2018-05-04

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in April, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent. Over the month, job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, health care, and mining. Incorporating revisions for February and March, which increased nonfarm payroll employment by 30,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 208,000 over the past 3 months. In April, employment in professional and business services increased by 54,000. Over the year, employment in the industry has grown by 518,000. Manufacturing employment rose by 24,000 in April. The gain was largely in the durable goods component, with machinery adding 8,000 jobs and employment in fabricated metals continuing to trend up (+4,000).