The jobless rate dropped to 4.4 percent in April, the lowest level in more than a decade, the government said on Friday, signaling the economy’s resilience and showing a labor market closing in on full capacity.
Employers added 211,000 workers, the Labor Department said, helping to quell doubts raised by sluggish growth in the first quarter and anemic hiring in March.
The economic anxiety and uneven fortunes that figured so prominently in the presidential campaign have not disappeared, particularly outside of the country’s flourishing urban centers. Wage growth was also modest, with the year-over-year increase staying just baby steps ahead of inflation.
But some of the labor force’s weakest corners improved, with declines in the ranks of discouraged workers and of those working part time who would prefer full-time jobs. The average monthly gain in jobs since February reached 174,000.
