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Following the addition of 315,000 jobs in March (an upward revision), a smaller 175,000 jobs joined nonfarm payroll in April, according to the latest BLS jobs report. This falls below the 12-month average monthly gain of 242,000.

Increasing by another 56,000 jobs in April, health care continues to lead job growth, followed by social assistance (+31,000), transportation and warehousing (+22,000), and retail trade (+20,000). Meanwhile, employment in temporary help services experienced another big loss over the month, decreasing by 16,000 jobs. 

The unemployment rate inched up to 3.9% in April, with 6.5 million people unemployed, and has stayed between 3.7% and 3.9% since August 2023. The labor force participation rate remained at 62.7% for the month.

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