"The U.S. labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, beating economist expectations and marking the second straight month of gains. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%. After a 2025 where monthly job growth averaged an anemic 10,000, the 2026 average is now 76,000-enough of an improvement that economists are starting to ask whether the "hiring recession" of the past two years is finally ending."
"For much of the labor market, the answer looks like yes. Health care added 37,000 jobs, transportation and warehousing added 30,000, and social assistance trended up. For two years, essentially the only jobs that were hiring were in the public sector and healthcare, until DOGE gutted the federal workforce and left healthcare to do it alone. Now labor market gains are broadening. Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, wrote in a note that the job market is "inching out of low hire, low fire mode into moderate hire, low fire mode.""
"But there is one corner of the economy excluded from that: the office. The "information sector"-where the BLS counts tech, telecom, data processing, and media jobs-lost another 13,000 jobs in April, while finance shed 11,000. The monthly average this year has been about 9,000 jobs lost in information, and 12,000 in financial activities."
"Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab, flagged on X Friday that information payrolls have now fallen to their lowest level since March 2021-wiping out four years of sector gains-and have logged 16 consecutive months of net job loss. That is one of the longest peacetime declines in any major sector in modern labor data. A closer look into the particular sectors' suffering is revealing. Telecom shed 3,000 jobs, motion picture and sound recording lost 6,000 jobs, and the category that covers cloud and data infrastructure providers lost another 4,000."
The U.S. labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, exceeding economist expectations and continuing a second month of gains. The unemployment rate remained at 4.3%. After weak 2025 monthly job growth, 2026 averages have improved enough to raise questions about whether a hiring slowdown is ending. Job gains are broadening across sectors, including health care, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance. Public sector and health care had been the main hiring areas during the prior two years. However, office-related areas remain weak, with the information sector losing jobs and finance also declining. Information payrolls have fallen to the lowest level since March 2021 and have recorded 16 consecutive months of net job loss, including declines in telecom, media, and cloud and data infrastructure providers.
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