The U.S. economy added nearly a quarter million jobs in April, as businesses stepped up their hiring, the Department of Labor announced Friday. The April figure was stronger than expected — and the government also revised its earlier estimates for February and March, to show that 46,000 more jobs had been created than previously thought. But a separate Labor Department survey — which tracks job growth by households rather than through employer payrolls — says the unemployment rate ticked up from 8.8 percent to 9 percent. The White House is calling the data "good news." Is it really?
These numbers are a real "relief": Friday's report "didn't just greatly exceed expectations," says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly, "it's arguably the single best month for jobs since the Great Recession began in 2007." The total number of jobs created is the third highest since the start of the recession, and it's actually the best if you exclude temporary bumps in past months from Census jobs. These numbers definitely show some "significant steps in the right direction."
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