Payrolls, Unemployment Rate Increase in April
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.9% in April from 9.7% a month earlier, even as payrolls rose by the most in four years, the Labor Department said Friday.
Employers added 290,000 jobs, more than the 230,000 predicted by economists, Bloomberg reported. The unemployment rate was forecast to hold at 9.7%.
Trucking added 1,000 jobs in April, to 1,226,500 total jobs, although Labor revised March’s total to 1,225,500, down 4,200 from the previously reported 1,229,700.
The payrolls gain was the fourth in a row and followed a 174,000 increase in March.
Manufacturers added the most workers in almost 12 years, adding 44,000 workers for the month. Payrolls at builders rose 14,000 following a 26,000 gain the month before.
Service-sector employment rose by the most since August 2006, adding 225,000 jobs.
Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway includes transportation interests, said his company was hiring, after cutting 20,000 workers last year, Bloomberg reported.
