Employers added a healthy 253,000 jobs in April, a sign the tight labor market continues to propel the U.S. economy despite stubbornly high inflation and banking industry turmoil.
Economists had expected payroll gains of 180,000. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 3.4% from 3.5% in the prior month, the Labor Department said on Friday.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate another quarter of a percentage point, while signaling that it could pause the increases to assess the impact of monetary tightening on the economy.