May 16 (Bloomberg) – Payrolls climbed in 39 states and the District of Columbia in April and the unemployment rate fell in 43 states, showing the labor market was strengthening.
Texas led the nation with a 64,100 increase in payrolls, followed by California with 56,100 more jobs, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The jobless rate rose in two states.
Growth in the labor market is giving households the means to spend after a slow first quarter weighed on the economy. The data support the Federal Reserve's plan to keep scaling back its unprecedented stimulus program at a measured rate while maintaining an accommodative stance.
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"There is still slack in the labor market – it's not what it would be on all cylinders – but we are seeing continuous improvement," Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, said in an interview before the report. "The U.S. economy is poised to gain a little bit more traction."
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