Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com – The U.S. created 428,000 workers in April — more than was expected. This brings the U.S.’s labor force back to its pre-pandemic peak.

The Labor Department reported that 3.6% of workers remained, beating forecasts of a decrease to 3.5%. There were tentative signs that wages are starting to fall. Only 0.3% of the workforce saw an increase, one tick lower than expected. The annual growth rate was unchanged at 5.5% from March.

This suggests a more dynamic environment than that which was apparent in ADP’s private sector hiring survey on Wednesday. 

These numbers also showed new issues with discouraged workers. They are people who quit the workforce due to various reasons. They fell to 62.2%, ending a string of three consecutive increases.