US job growth surges with more than 260,000 added as unemployment rate falls
The US economy saw another strong month of growth for April with 263,000 jobs added as it continued to bounce back from February's dramatic slowdown.
The Labor Department revealed on Friday that there were more than 70,000 additional jobs created last month than analysts had expected, dispelling fears from earlier in the year of a global economic slowdown.
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Unemployment also fell to its lowest since the recession 10 years ago with a rate of 3.6 per cent, which was 0.2 per cent less than in March.
Average hourly earnings also continued to grow, rising by 0.2 per cent on the back of a 0.1 per cent increase in March, bringing the total rise over the past year to 3.2 per cent.
Professional and business services saw the biggest addition of jobs with 76,000 created in April, while construction followed behind with 33,000.
Employment in the healthcare industry increased by 27,000 jobs and financial services saw 12,000 created.
Manufacturing continued to grow at a slower pace, and was little changed for the third consecutive month, creating just the 4,000 jobs in April.
The data shows a steady growth in the economy just as President Donald Trump is about to begin his campaign for re-election.
It has also effectively put to bed any concerns about a recession or the need to cut interest rates, an idea that had been floated about following an temporary inversion of the Treasury's yield curve last month.
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The strong jobs data has given investors confidence and Wall Street stocks are expected to rise back towards recent record highs, with futures pointing to a rise of 0.3 per cent for the S&P 500 following the release of the data.
The dollar also rose in the wake of the report, returning to near 98 points, up 0.01 per cent.