Investing.com – The U.S labor market showed signs of as the economy created fewer jobs than expected, according to official data released on Friday.
Non-farm payrolls rose 160,000 in April, compared to the rise of 208,000 in March that was revised from the initial reading of 215,000. The data missed the consensus estimate for the creation of 202,000 jobs.
The jobless rate remained stable at 5.0%, in line with forecasts.
The participation rate also decreased slightly to 62.8%, from the prior 63.0% in March.
Additionally, the private sector created fewer of the new job contracts than expected in April with a total of 171,000, compared to consensus expectations of 193,000. March’s contracts were revised down to 184,000 private nonfarm payrolls, from the prior 195,000.
Government payrolls fell by 11,000, compared to the creation of 24,000 public jobs that occurred in March, revised down from an initial reading of 20,000.
Average hourly earnings rose month-on-month by 0.3%, compared to the prior increase of 0.2% and coming in line with expectations.
Furthermore, the average weekly hours remained unchanged at 34.5 as expected.
U.S. futures extended losses after the publication and, at 12:35GMT or 8:35AM ET, the blue-chip Dow futures lost 0.34%, S&P 500 futures dropped 0.39% and the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.35%.
The dollar weakened after the release, with the U.S. Dollar Index trading at 93.40, compared to 93.61 earlier. EUR/USD traded at 1.1454, from 1.1426 before the release, USD/JPY traded at 106.58, from 106.94, and GBP/USD was at 1.4509, compared to the previous 1.4499.