Jobs Numbers

U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in April

The American economy created 223,000 jobs last month, according to today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a big bounce back from the anemic 126,000 jobs created in March, which ended a stretch of just over a year when every month saw 200,000 jobs created or more.

Unfortunately, while job creation numbers for February were revised up from 264,000 to 266,000, March was downshifted from 126,000 to 85,000, for a total of 39,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. Over the past three months, job creation has averaged 191,000 per month.

The unemployment rate was 5.4 percent, down a tick from 5.5 percent in March. Average hourly earnings were $24.87, a 2.2 percent change over a year ago, meaning wage growth is still effectively flat.