The economy continues to move in the right direction. It added 115,000 jobs in April, and data for February and March were revised upward by a total of 53,000 jobs. April marks the 26th straight month of gains in private-sector employment, for a total of 4.2 million private-sector jobs. This month’s growth is not as strong compared to the previous two months, however, and Congress will need to focus on ways to keep up demand—austerity isn’t the answer. Congress also needs to set its sights on making sure today’s college students and graduates can afford a good education and can find good jobs once they’ve earned a degree.
There are two factors that contribute to the slower pace of job gains in April compared to February and March. First, because of the unseasonably warm weather this winter, some hiring occurred earlier in the year than what typically happens, so this month’s slow growth is a reaction to higher-than-usual hiring in the past couple of months.
Second, conservatives in Congress have consistently blocked policies that would have ramped up job creation and economic growth. This past fall conservatives in Congress refused to vote on the American Jobs Act, which would have bolstered job creation, and instead have focused on austerity. Even as workers continue to face a tough labor market, government has continued to lay off employees, with 10,700 people laid off by local government education departments in April alone.
The good news in today’s report is that manufacturing firms continue to hire, adding 16,000 new jobs in April. This brings total new hires up to 489,000 since manufacturing’s low point in January 2010. Average hours worked by employees in the manufacturing sector continue to trend upward, surpassing the levels seen in the 2000s. This indicates that firms are seeing strong demand. see Figure 1 Overtime hours among manufacturing workers have also trended up, though they remain slightly lower than in the 2000s economic recovery, and held steady at 4.2 hours per week last month.
SOURCE: Jobs Growth Continues in April, but Congress Needs to Help Make Sure It Lasts.