by Calculated Risk on 5/04/2012 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS:

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
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The civilian labor force participation rate declined in April to 63.6 percent, while the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, changed little.
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The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +240,000 to +259,000, and the change for March was revised from +120,000 to +154,000.

This was below expectations of 165,000 payroll jobs added.

Click on graph for larger image.

Job growth started picking up early last year, but then the economy was hit by a series of shocks (oil price increase, tsunami in Japan, debt ceiling debate) - and then growth started picking up again. Now it appears job growth has slowed again. This was a weak month, but the upward revisions to prior months was a small positive.

The second graph shows the employment population ratio, the participation rate, and the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate was declined to 8.1% (red line).

The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 63.6% in April (blue line). This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force and the participation rate is at a new post bubble low. The participation rate is well below the 66% to 67% rate that was normal over the last 20 years, although some of the recent decline is due to demographics.

The Employment-Population ratio declined slightly to 58.4% in April (black line).

The third graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.

This shows the depth of the recent employment recession - worse than any other post-war recession - and the relatively slow recovery due to the lingering effects of the housing bust and financial crisis.

This was weaker payroll growth than expected (expected was 165,000). More later ...