As May arrives so does good news about U.S. employment and the job outlook as 288,000 jobs were created in April, according to the Labor Department.
The jobless rate dipped from 6.7 percent to 6.3 percent in March. The percentage of Americans looking for employment hit its lowest level, 62.8 percent, since 1978. The Labor Department reported 12,000 more jobs at factories and an uptick in construction hiring of 32,000.
The news comes as at a time when the stock market is also on a positive run and just days after a new Commerce Department report revealed annual growth of 0.1 percent for the first three months of this year. Following the labor statistics the stock markets all showed gains.
"The job market is kicking into a higher gear. It is still far from running at full speed, but the trend lines are good," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "The gains are broad across industries, regions and pay scales. The job market feels better and better."
The construction job increase is a good sign, note analysts, given the long wicked winter that stalled the industry this year.
The report "signals that American companies are optimistic the economy will snap back smartly after the largely weather-related slump in the first quarter," said Sal Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets.
At this point just 113,000 jobs of the 8,8 million lost in the country's second worse recession have been regained.
Looking forward, the Federal Reserve Board's decisions on rate hikes will very likely hinge on what the next labor report brings, notes one news report.
