US jobs report shows 266k new jobs added in April, falls below expectations

By Alyssa Wilson Published: May 7, 2021

US jobs report shows 266k new jobs added in April, falls below expectations

Construction workers talk at a USA Properties Fund site, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Simi Valley, Calif. Hiring has weakened for six straight months. Nearly 10 million jobs remain lost since the coronavirus struck. And this week, the Congressional Budget Office forecast that employment won’t regain its pre-pandemic level until 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

As the economy works to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the newest U.S. Jobs report shows hiring has slowed. Only 266,000 jobs were added in April, which is significantly lower than in March, the Associated Press reported.

The country’s unemployment rate rose to 6.1% from 6% in March, the Labor Department announced Friday. According to CNBC, the Dow Jones estimated that 1 million new jobs would be added and the unemployment rate would fall to 5.8%.

The leisure and hospitality industry saw the largest gains in hiring, with the addition of more than 330,000 workers.

The lack of available workers remains a crisis impacting the growth in jobs. The economy still remains 8 million jobs short of what the workforce looked like in 2020 before the pandemic.