National

US Employers Add Solid 223K Jobs; Rate 5.4 pct., 7-Year Low

Published

8 years ago

May 8, 2015

In this April 22, 2015 photo, a sign at a recruiting station for Leslie’s Pool supplies boasts that it is a great place to work during a National Career Fairs job fair, in Chicago. The Labor Department releases employment data for April on Friday, May 8, 2015. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year.

The job growth helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March, the Labor Department said Friday. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession.

The level of hiring signaled that companies were confident enough in their outlook last month to fill positions. The job growth, if sustained, could fuel an economic rebound after a January-March quarter in which the U.S. economy is thought to have shrunk.

“Today’s report argues that the economy is in decent health,” says Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman Private Banking.

U.S. stock prices rose sharply when trading began an hour after the jobs report was released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Still, Friday’s figures included signs of concern: A weak March job gain was revised sharply down to just 85,000 from 126,000. In the past three months, employers have added 191,000 positions, a decent gain but well below last year’s average of 260,000.

And the job growth isn’t raising worker pay much. Average hourly wages rose just 3 cents in April to $24.87. Wages have risen 2.2 percent over the past 12 months, roughly the same sluggish pace of the past six years.

Clemons said he was surprised by the meager gain in earnings.

“Everything in this cycle has been slow-motion,” he said, referring to the modest recovery from the 2007-2009 Great Recession. “Maybe wages are another example of that.”

Tara Sinclair, a professor at George Washington University and chief economist at the job listings service Indeed, said: “We’re definitely back to that same discussion we were having before March and earlier this year: Things are looking pretty good and going in the right direction, but where is the wage growth?”

The Federal Reserve has been monitoring the job market for convincing evidence of a healthier economy. The chronically sluggish pay growth and the downward revision to March’s job gain may dissuade the Fed from raising interest rates from record lows anytime soon.

The “Fed could be on hold forever with anemic numbers like these,” said Tom di Galoma, head of fixed income trading for ED&F Man Capital Markets.

Other economists suggested that the Fed isn’t likely to raise its key benchmark rate until late this year or perhaps not until next year.

Some trends that held back growth earlier this year remained evident in Friday’s jobs report. The mining industry, which includes oil and gas, cut 15,000 jobs, its fourth straight loss. Oil drilling has fallen sharply after last year’s plunge in oil prices.

Manufacturers added only 1,000 jobs after a flat reading in March. That’s down from the industry’s average monthly job gain of 18,000 last year. A strengthened dollar, which makes U.S. exports costlier overseas, is slowing factory output.

Construction companies, though, picked up much of the slack by adding 45,000 jobs, the most in 16 months. And he health care industry gained 56,000 jobs.

Such solid figures add to other evidence that the economy may be gradually picking up. Home sales staged a big comeback in March, a sign more Americans are making expensive purchases. People bought existing homes at an annual pace of 5.19 million, the National Association of Realtors said.

Those gains are expected to extend into April based on figures on signed contracts released by the Realtors. That would help spur additional growth in the construction sector as builders seek to meet demand.

Some Americans also appear to be gradually stepping up their spending. Service firms such as restaurants, retailers and banks grew at a faster pace in April than in March, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers.

___

AP Economics Writers Josh Boak and Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.

Up Next

Last of 10 Young White People in Racial Assault Sentenced

Don't Miss

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase Agree to Erase Debts From Credit Reports After Bankruptcies

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

Published

2 days ago

May 26, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 - 30, 2023

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 17 – 23, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 17 – 23 2023

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 17 - 23, 2023

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Activism

Oakland Teachers Strike Continues Over Wages, ‘Common Good’ Demands for Needs of Parents, Students

The OEA’s common good proposals are based on outreach with thousands of OUSD parents and community members. California districts that have bargained common good demands with teacher unions include Los Angeles Unified, Natomas Unified, Montebello Unified, San Diego Unified, West Contra Costa Unified, and Jurupa Unified.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 14, 2023

Ken Epstein

Teachers show their determination on picket lines at schools across the city. Photo courtesy of OEA.

By Ken Epstein

The strike of Oakland’s 3,000 teachers and other school staff is ending its first full week. Both sides are moving closer to a settlement, which could come soon, though observers close to the bargaining table say possibilities still exist for negotiations to break down.

Both sides appear to be near agreement on salary issues. The Oakland Unified School District is offering nearly $70 million in raises for teachers and other members of the Oakland Education Association, including nurses, social workers, psychologists, counselors, and substitutes.

A recent OUSD proposal offers an increase for first-year teacher salaries from $52,905 to about $63,000 and an increase for educators at the top of the salary scale from $98,980 to over $110,000.

A major sticking point has been the union’s “common good” demands, especially the demand for shared decision-making at community schools, which would mean that parents and teachers would have the right to vote on how money is spent at their schools.

In an interview with the Oakland Post, Ismael “Ish” Armendariz, OEA’s interim president, said, the district and some board members do not want to give up some of their authority to shared decision making. “They want to control,” he said.

“Under shared governance, people get to vote collectively on how the money at school sites is spent, not just advise the district, which is free to disregard the advice. That’s where the big disconnect is (in negotiations),” he said.

Other common good proposals include mental health services for students, support for unhoused students, implementation of OUSD’s Reparations for Black Students policy, limit or halt the closing of schools in flatland communities and protection and expansion of programs for students with disabilities.

Approved by the board in 2021, the Reparations for Black Students policy is designed to improve academic achievement and enrollment for Black students. The union’s proposal would give OEA the authority to select teacher members of the task force the resolution created.

The district has wanted to limit negotiations to traditional wage and hours issues. But the union says though wages are crucial to provide stability and a living wage for educators, these other issues also directly impact parents, students, and teachers.

“Our schools face safety concerns ranging from gun violence to asbestos and lead to mice and rat infestations to raw sewage to leaky roofs,” according to a union statement.

Teachers’ union President Ismael “Ish” Armendariz speaks to press at school picket line. Photo courtesy of OEA.

Speaking at an OUSD press conference Monday, Board President Mike Hutchinson opposed the common good proposals.

“While we agree on the principles of the (common good) proposals, they simply do not belong in the contract language,” he said.

Three school board members who are sympathetic to the union’s demands, VanCedric Williams, Valarie Bachelor and Jennifer Brouhard, held their own press conference Monday to clarify their position to the public and to push Hutchinson and Boardmembers Sam Davis and Dr. Clifford Thompson to negotiate on the union’s common good proposals.

Bachelor told the Oakland Post that the common good proposals have grown in importance since the pandemic.

“The pandemic has made it really clear about the inequities in the community and what happens when we don’t address them. The bread-and-butter issues are important, but I’m glad the OEA has brought these common good demands to the community attention, to the state’s attention,” she said.