WASHINGTON: Unemployment in the world’s largest economy fell to the lowest rate in 10 years due to a strong rebound in job creation in April, bringing relief to Donald Trump after disappointing economic data early in his presidency. After a slow March, when hiring likely was held down by a winter storm, the US economic engine added an estimated 211,000 net new positions while the jobless rate fell a tenth to 4.4 percent, the lowest since May 2007, the Labor Department reported Friday. The solid data strengthen the case for the Federal Reserve to stick to a planned course of two more interest rate hikes in 2017, and may even begin to worry the inflation hawks among the central bankers.
The result handily surpassed an analyst consensus, which had predicted 180,000 new jobs for the month, and rebound in the unemployment rate to 4.6 percent. The White House hailed the news after a first quarter when economic data appeared to have softened. Trump has vowed to add 25 million new jobs over a decade but economists say this may be unrealistic. In his weekly address, Trump said his administration was “hard at work, tearing down the barriers to job creation.” Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the jobs numbers vindicated the president’s agenda of tax cuts and slashed regulation. “The president and his entire team will continue this laser focus on creating jobs for hard-working Americans and growing the US economy,” she told reporters. The jobs report pointed to continuing economic recovery but also to an increasingly tight labor market, which could begin to fuel inflation worries, especially as wages continued to climb in April. Average hourly earnings rose nearly 0.3 percent for the month to $26.19. But measured over 12 months, the gains appeared softer. April wages were 2.5 percent higher than the same month last year, down from the 2.6 percent gain recorded in March. The unemployment rate has now fallen 0.6 percentage points since the start of the year, with 854,000 fewer unemployed people, while average monthly job creation of 185,000 so far in 2017 is in line with last year’s trend.
