US Nonfarm Payrolls drop by 20,000 in April. Unemployment rate edges down. Factory orders rise. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

May 2, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Nonfarm Payrolls drop by 20,000 in April. Unemployment rate edges down. Factory orders rise.

U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls employment data was released today and the report showed that jobs fell less than expected in the month of April. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report dropped by 20,000 jobs in April after decreasing by 81,000 jobs in March. The market forecasts had expected a decrease of approximately 78,000 jobs for April. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 5.0 percent from 5.1 percent in March, which had marked the highest level since September of 2005. April's decrease of 20,000 jobs makes the fourth straight month of decline in nonfarm payroll employment.

Construction and manufacturing again were the hardest hit by job losses in April as they lost 61,000 jobs and 46,000 jobs, respectively. Retail trade employment showed a notable decline of 27,000 jobs lost in the month. Health care grew by 37,000 jobs in April as education and health services combined to show 52,000 jobs gained in the month. Health care has increased by 365,000 jobs over the last calender year. Food services also added jobs in April with a gain of 18,000 jobs. Hourly earnings rose by 1 cent in April after March's rise of 6 cents. Average weekly earnings decreased in March by 0.6 percent to $602.56.

U.S. Factory Orders increase in March.

Factory Orders in the U.S. increased 1.4 percent in the month of March according to a report released by U.S. Commerce Department today. March orders for manufactured goods rose by $5.9 billion to $432.3 billion following a decrease of 0.9 percent in February. Economic forecasts had expected factory orders to increase by 0.2 percent after two straight months of decline. Shipments of manufactured goods rose by 1.1 percent in March while unfilled orders increased for the 34th out of the last 35 months.

New orders for manufactured durable goods also increased in March by 0.1 percent after two straight months of decline. Durable goods are products generally considered to last longer than 3 years. Shipments for durable goods were down 0.4 percent in March while unfilled orders and inventories of durable goods both increased for March by 1.1 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

Tags: nonfarm payrolls, employment, unemployment rate, factory orders

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