April’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Hiring Situation Report underwhelmed, with the economy gaining 266,000 new jobs last month, significantly less than the nearly 1 million anticipated by economists. The smaller gains are reportedly a result of ongoing labor shortages as the economy reopens. The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% in April from 6.% the prior month. April marks the one-year anniversary of the economy losing a record 20.6 million jobs.
The majority of job gains seen last month were within the hospitality and leisure sectors. Healthcare lost 4,100 jobs, fueled in large part by a loss of 19,500 jobs in nursing and residential care facilities despite an increase of 21,200 jobs in ambulatory care settings. Hospitals lost 5,800 jobs in April. The unemployment rate for healthcare stands at 3.4% and at 1.8% within hospitals.
