April Jobs Report: Strong Job Growth Masks Economic Uncertainty and Tarriff Threats
By Bernard E. Anderson, Ph.D.
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
and Senior Economic Advisor, National Urban League
The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April, underscoring the ongoing resilience of the labor market even as new economic threats loom on the horizon. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent, reflecting continued labor market stability. Labor force participation edged up slightly to 62.6 percent, while the employment-population ratio remained at 60.0 percent.
However, long-term unemployment rose by 200,000 to 1.674 million people, now accounting for 23.5 percent of all unemployed workers. The broader U-6 unemployment rate, which includes discouraged and marginally attached workers, ticked between 7 and 8 percent—an indicator of lingering slack in the labor market.