The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, vastly outperforming economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3 percent, the latest jobs report showed on Friday. Economists had anticipated that the economy would only add 55,000 jobs last month. It comes amid great economic uncertainty as the war in Iran has sent energy prices soaring, and many Americans have greatly soured on Donald Trump’s handling of the economy. The economy added jobs across multiple sectors, including health care, transportation, warehousing and retail. The latest data indicate the economy does not need to show massive job gains to remain stable with low unemployment, even though employment growth remains well below the average monthly job growth in 2024, before Trump took office. The Dow ticked up early on Friday in response to the solid report, as investors are optimistic a deal might be reached to end the war in Iran despite an exchange of fire that threatened the already fragile ceasefire on Thursday. While the job gains beat expectations, wages are not keeping up with inflation, which has accelerated due to the war. Hourly average wages were lower than expected, increasing just 0.2 percent last month, or 3.6 percent annually, compared to the expected 0.3 percent for April and 3.8 percent on an annual basis. Inflation expectations for April are around 4 percent.
