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U.S. Labor Picture Improved In April
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Average weekly earnings for most workers rose in April by $4.88 to $542.40, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Average hourly earnings rose to $16, up a nickel, for private production and nonsupervisory workers, who account for 80 percent of the workforce.
And while businesses vary widely in their ability to raise consumer prices, Fed officials noted again Tuesday that "pricing power is more evident."
The April payroll gains were widespread across industries, with increases in finance, real estate, trucking, telecommunications, construction, and the movie and recording industries. State and local governments also added workers.
Manufacturers, airlines, publishers, gas stations and the federal government were among the employers who cut jobs.
The unemployment rate for white workers was unchanged in April at 4.4 percent. But black unemployment rose to 10.4 percent from 10.3 percent in March, and Latino unemployment rose to 6.4 percent from 5.7 percent.
Analysts said the economy was bound to slow this year after growing at a very fast 4.4 percent last year, and the recent spike in energy prices may have caused it to cool sooner and faster than expected.
U.S. benchmark crude oil was trading above $57 a barrel in early April. Meanwhile, the national average price of gasoline rose as high as $2.28 for a gallon of unleaded regular on April 11, according to the AAA auto club.
Hiring, retail spending, factory output and consumer confidence all fell in March, leaving analysts wondering whether the economy had hit a brief soft period that would pass as energy prices receded, or was sliding into a more serious downturn.
Since then, oil and gasoline prices have ebbed. U.S. benchmark crude was trading around $51 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline yesterday was selling for $2.21 a gallon, on average, AAA said.
"There's no question the rise in energy prices has taken a bite out of economic growth," said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. "We went from traveling well above the speed limit to slowing down to about the speed limit. . . . It feels slower, but we're still moving along at a good pace."
