The U.S. job market demonstrated resiliency in April, ducking macroeconomic pressures from the war in Iran and high gas prices while adding jobs in key sectors.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data, published Friday, showed the U.S. logged 115,000 new jobs this past month while maintaining a 4.3 percent unemployment rate, signalling a healthy economy that requires fewer jobs to break-even.
The U.S.’ ongoing conflict in Iran has led to increased economic anxieties for many businesses and higher energy prices. The average price of gas hit $4.55 this week, the highest level since 2022, while Brent crude oil hovers at $100 per barrel. But the war has yet to make a dramatic difference on payrolls; instead, the jobs report revealed a landscape in which few employees are leaving jobs or being hired.
“The jobs market has been kind of static, not very dynamic,” said Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at U.S. Bank. “Job gains have been slow, weak, but the unemployment rate has been pretty low, so the so-called ‘low hire, low fire’ [description] fits here.”
Healthcare jobs have steadied an otherwise weak job market, adding 37,000 roles in April, with growth in nursing and home health care services. Transportation and warehousing jobs also rose this past month, driven by delivery drivers and couriers for e-commerce, but overall the sector remains deflated compared to a year prior.
Healthcare jobs have steadied an otherwise weak job market, adding 37,000 roles in April, with growth in nursing and home health care services. Transportation and warehousing jobs also rose this past month, driven by delivery drivers and couriers for e-commerce, but overall the sector remains deflated compared to a year prior.
Among the sectors experiencing losses, information jobs—which accounts for most of the tech sector—and financial jobs dropped in April. In recent weeks, large corporations have announced layoffs or voluntary reductions with an emphasis on generative AI tech automating tasks previously completed by humans.
Federal government jobs declined again, continuing a downward trend from January 2025, though this excludes any staff furloughed during the Department of Homeland Security’s funding lapse and partial government shutdown in April.
While the average unemployment rate held steady, some demographic groups experienced higher rates of joblessness; the latest data showed 7.3 percent of Black workers and 13 percent of teenagers were unemployed in April.
“Even though the headline tables were pretty solid, there were some pockets of weakness or underemployment,” said Kenneth Kim, senior economist at KPMG.
Average hourly earnings also grew slightly to $37.41, but other inflationary metrics including the Consumer Price Index are expected to rise, which pose future concerns of if wages can outpace inflation, economists said.
The April report revised past jobs data, with February now showing a loss of 156,000 jobs and March an addition of 185,000 jobs, bringing the three month average to 48,000 jobs.
“We have two months in a row of positive job growth, but they’re not like, out of the park, it’s just fine,” said Christopher Clarke, a professor of economics at Washington State University.
For job hunters, the current market remains fraught. Data from job board LinkedIn reveals hiring rates slowed 5 percent in April and are down 9 percent since the start of the year, said Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s head of economics for the Americas.
“People are certainly frustrated; even though the unemployment rate is low, it’s still a tough time to find a job, it’s much more competitive,” Kantenga said, because job postings are on the decline and employers are seeing twice as many applicants per role posted.
Helena Okolicsanyi, 35, was laid off from an education technology company in July 2025 and, for the past 10 months, has sought full-time employment in the D.C. metro area, applying to 311 jobs to-date. Okolicsanyi has spent a decade working in marketing roles but feels she continues to be shut out of jobs for having too much or too little experience.
Okolicsanyi currently holds several gig jobs including walking dogs, delivering flowers and providing marketing content for her local aerial yoga studio. “People are hesitant to hire someone who’s looking for full-time work,” she said.
The latest jobs report showed more individuals are working in part-time roles for economic reasons, working even two or three jobs to make ends meet, KPMG’s Kim said.
Younger workers, particularly early career professionals, report difficulties entering the workforce as well.
“It’s a very challenging and difficult labor market for recent college graduates because businesses aren’t hiring as aggressively,” Sweet said.
Data from Handshake, a job board for college students, shows job postings for graduates have declined 2 percent year-over-year and 12 percent from pre-pandemic levels. Today’s BLS figures show unemployment rates for college graduates ages 25 and up hover at 2.8 percent but for college grads under 35, unemployment is at 5.3 percent.
Tatum Douglas, 26, has spent the majority of her postgraduate career underemployed. After finishing her international business degree from Washington State University in 2023, Douglas took a six-month seasonal job as a ranch hand in Bozeman, Montana before looking for a corporate role.
“I had a two-year [career] stagnancy, I called it purgatory,” Douglas shared.
Eventually, she found a recruiter in Bozeman who helped her secure an administrative assistant role this past winter. Six months later, she’s re-entering the job market with the hopes of finding a company that could provide upward mobility and stability.
“I’m looking for a clear opportunity for growth,” Douglas said. “It doesn’t matter what the job description will be, as long as I know without a shadow of a doubt they want me for the long haul.”
Looking ahead, economists anticipate further pressure on the labor market as immigration crackdowns and older retirees reduce workforce participation, and as energy prices rise and geopolitical uncertainty trickles into payrolls.
“We have not seen the full brunt of the energy price shock here in the U.S. … so there’s still room for that to slow,” Kantenga said.
