Employment Situation

April 2026

Released May 08, 2026

+115K
Change in nonfarm payroll jobs
Mar 2026 to Apr 2026

+0.0 percent
Change in unemployment rate
Mar 2026 to Apr 2026

-0.1 percent
Change in labor force participation rate
Mar 2026 to Apr 2026

From March 2026 to April 2026:

• Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 115K to 158.74 million.
  • Private sector payroll employment increased by 123K to 135.43 million.
  • Government payroll employment decreased by 8K to 23.31 million.
• The headline unemployment rate (U-3) remained unchanged at 4.3 percent.
  • The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.2 percent.
• The labor force participation rate (LFPR) decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 61.8 percent.

From March 2026 to April 2026:

• The best performing sectors were trade, transportation, and utilities (+60K) and private education and health services (+46K).
• The worst performing sectors were information (-13K) and financial activities (-11K).

From April 2025 to April 2026:

• The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+618K) and leisure and hospitality (+142K).
• The worst performing sectors were federal government (-311K) and information (-92K).

From April 2025 to April 2026:

• For all employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.57 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.57 percent.
• For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.97 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.67 percent.

Table 1. Labor Indicators

	Apr 2026	Mar 2026	M/M change	Apr 2025	Y/Y change
Payroll jobs
Nonfarm	158.736M	158.621M	115K	158.485M	251K
Private	135.428M	135.305M	123K	134.917M	511K
Government	23.308M	23.316M	-8K	23.568M	-260K
Unemployment
Official rate (U-3)	4.3%	4.3%	0.0pp	4.2%	0.1pp
Broader rate (U-6)	8.2%	8.0%	0.2pp	7.8%	0.4pp
Labor force participation rate
16 years and over	61.8%	61.9%	-0.1pp	62.6%	-0.8pp
Prime age (25-54 years)	83.8%	83.8%	0.0pp	83.6%	0.2pp
Employment-to-Population Ratio	59.1%	59.2%	-0.1pp	60.0%	-0.9pp

Table 2. Earnings Indicators

	Apr 2026	Mar 2026	M/M change	Apr 2025	Y/Y change
Production and non-supervisory
Hourly earnings	$32.23	$32.12	0.34%	$31.09	3.67%
Weekly earnings	$1,089.37	$1,085.66	0.34%	$1,047.73	3.97%
All employees
Hourly earnings	$37.41	$37.35	0.16%	$36.12	3.57%
Weekly earnings	$1,283.16	$1,277.37	0.45%	$1,238.92	3.57%

Table 3. Revisions

	1st	2nd	3rd	Net revision
Nonfarm jobs added
April 2026	115K
March 2026	178K	185K		7K
February 2026	-92K	-133K	-156K	-64K

Table 4. Comparison to ADP Estimate

	BLS	ADP	Difference
Private nonfarm jobs added	123K	109K	14K

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

March 2026

Released May 05, 2026

-56K
Change in nonfarm job openings
Feb 2026 to Mar 2026

+655K
Change in nonfarm hires
Feb 2026 to Mar 2026

+356K
Change in nonfarm separations
Feb 2026 to Mar 2026

Job Openings: The total number of nonfarm job openings decreased by 56K to 6.87 million, and the rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.1 percent.

• The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+106K) and financial activities (+101K).
• The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-318K) and other services (-41K).

Hires: The total number of nonfarm hires increased by 655K to 5.55 million, and the rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3.5 percent.

• The best performing sectors were trade, transportation, and utilities (+194K) and professional and business services (+165K).
• The worst performing sectors were state and local government (-8K) and federal government (-7K).

Separations: The total number of nonfarm separations increased by 356K to 5.38 million, and the rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.4 percent.

• Quits increased by 125K to 3.17 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 2 percent.
• Layoffs and discharges increased by 153K to 1.87 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2 percent.
• Other separations increased by 76K to 339K, and the rate remained unchanged at 0.2 percent.

Table 5. JOLTS Level Indicators

	Mar 2026	Feb 2026	M/M change	Mar 2025	Y/Y change
Job openings level
Nonfarm	6.866M	6.922M	-56K	6.952M	-86K
Private	6.143M	6.197M	-54K	6.119M	24K
Hire level
Nonfarm	5.554M	4.899M	655K	5.333M	221K
Private	5.236M	4.567M	669K	4.997M	239K
Separation level
Nonfarm	5.378M	5.022M	356K	5.288M	90K
Private	5.065M	4.697M	368K	4.943M	122K

Table 6. JOLTS Rate Indicators

	Mar 2026	Feb 2026	M/M change	Mar 2025	Y/Y change
Job openings rate
Nonfarm	4.1%	4.2%	-0.1pp	4.2%	-0.1pp
Private	4.3%	4.4%	-0.1pp	4.3%	0.0pp
Hire rate
Nonfarm	3.5%	3.1%	0.4pp	3.4%	0.1pp
Private	3.9%	3.4%	0.5pp	3.7%	0.2pp
Separation rate
Nonfarm	3.4%	3.2%	0.2pp	3.3%	0.1pp
Private	3.7%	3.5%	0.2pp	3.7%	0.0pp

Upcoming releases

Date	Time	Release	Data source
May 12	08:30 AM	Monthly Inflation Update, April 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
May 13	10:00 AM	Monthly Fiscal Update, April 2026	U.S. Treasury
May 22	10:00 AM	State Employment and Unemployment, April 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
May 28	08:30 AM	Monthly Expenditures Update, April 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
May 28	08:30 AM	Monthly GDP Update, Q1 2026 Second Estimate	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jun 05	08:30 AM	Monthly Employment Update, May 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Jun 05	10:00 AM	Monthly Debt Update, June 2026	U.S. Treasury

Notes

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; ADP National Employment Report; JEC Republicans calculations

“pp” = percentage points; “M/M” = month over month; “Y/Y” = year over year

Consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, monthly figures are seasonally adjusted. Discrepancy in change figures is possible due to rounding.