Payrolls climbed in 30 U.S. states in April, while the unemployment rate dropped in 40, showing the labor market strengthened across the country.
Texas led the gains in payrolls, adding 33,100 jobs last month, followed by New York and Florida, according to figures released today in Washington by the Labor Department. California, New York and South Carolina were among states with the biggest decreases in joblessness.
Widespread employment gains indicate that stronger demand has induced companies to fire fewer workers and, at times, boost staff levels. Those decisions will be challenged in May and the following month as slower manufacturing activity, diminished business with the government and a slowdown in consumer spending offer less support to the U.S. expansion.
“The hiring backdrop has been much more steady than economic growth,” Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York, said before the report. “I expect it to improve and look better in the second half” of the year.
Other reports today showed consumer sentiment jumped to an almost six-year high and the index of leading indicators climbed more than projected.
Improving Confidence
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 83.7 in May, the highest since July 2007, from 76.4 the prior month. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was for a gain to 77.9. Forecasts ranged from 74 to 82.5. The index averaged 64.2 during the recession that ended in June 2009 and 89 in the five years prior.
The Conference Board’s gauge of the economic outlook for the next three to six months climbed 0.6 percent in April after falling a revised 0.2 percent in March, the New York-based group said. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.2 percent increase. The rebound suggests the world’s largest economy will accelerate later this year.
Stocks rose after the reports, putting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index on track for its fourth straight week of gains. The S&P 500 advanced 0.4 percent to 1,656.83 at 11:07 a.m. in New York.
In April, payrolls expanded nationally by 165,000 workers after growing by a larger-than-first-estimated 138,000 workers in the prior month, the Labor Department said May 3. The jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5 percent.
