Professional services, retail boost April hiring
Service industry drives US hiring in April, led by professional and business services, retail
U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, and hiring over the previous two months was much stronger than the government first estimated.
The solid month of job growth was driven entirely by the service industry. Construction companies and governments cut jobs, while hiring at factories was flat.
Professional and business services led all categories with 73,000 jobs added in April. Many of those were in higher-paying sectors: a sub-category that includes accounting, engineering and architecture firms added 23,000 jobs. Roughly 31,000 of the professional and business services jobs, however, were temporary positions.
The leisure and hospitality industry, which includes hotels and restaurants, added 43,000 jobs after creating 38,000 in March.
And retailers bounced back, adding 29,300 jobs. That followed a disappointing March when they cut nearly 4,000 positions.
Here's a look at the jobs added or lost in each major industry category:
Industry | April | March | Past 12 months |
Construction | -6,000 | 13,000 | 154,000 |
Manufacturing | 0 | 2,000 | 70,000 |
Retail | 29,300 | -3,900 | 248,200 |
Transportation, warehousing | 4,200 | -6,700 | 91,400 |
Information (Telecom, publishing) | -9,000 | 2,000 | 12,000 |
Financial services | 9,000 | 5,000 | 99,000 |
Professional services (Accounting, temp work) | 73,000 | 64,000 | 587,000 |
Education and health | 28,000 | 46,000 | 373,000 |
Hotels, restaurants, entertainment | 43,000 | 38,000 | 378,000 |
Government | -11,000 | -16,000 | -89,000 |
Source: Labor Department |
