The size of the U.S. work force shrank in April for the first time in seven months. A sign the tightest labor market in decades is getting worse? A bad omen for the economy? Don’t bet on it, at least not yet, economists say.
The size of the U.S. work force shrank in April for the first time in seven months. A sign the tightest labor market in decades is getting worse? A bad omen for the economy?They point out the labor force has expanded sharply in the past year, and with job openings at a record high, wages soaring and the pandemic fading, more people are expected to look for and find work.
The government on Friday reported that the U.S. added 428,000 new jobs in April, the 12th straight month in which employment growth topped 400,000. The so-called labor-force participation rate also fell to 62.2% from 62.4%, leaving it more than a full percentage point below pre-pandemic levels. It was the first drop in almost a year.
Before the April report, the size of the labor force had grown by an average of 315,000 a month over the past year. “This move does not make much sense,” said chief economist Stephen Stanley of Amherst Pierpont Securities. “Chalk it up to the randomness of these data and let’s see what happens next month.”The U.S. economy, for example, is still 1.2 million jobs below its pre-pandemic high, based on a survey of business establishments.
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