April Employment Report: 263,000 Jobs Added, 3.6% Unemployment Rate

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in April, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, construction, health care, and social assistance.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised up from +33,000 to +56,000, and the change for March was revised down from +196,000 to +189,000. With these revisions, employment gains in February and March combined were 16,000 more than previously reported.
...
In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents to $27.77. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.2 percent.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the monthly change in payroll jobs, ex-Census (meaning the impact of the decennial Census temporary hires and layoffs is removed - mostly in 2010 - to show the underlying payroll changes).

Total payrolls increased by 263 thousand in April (private payrolls increased 236 thousand).

Payrolls for February and March were revised up 16 thousand combined.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In April, the year-over-year change was 2.620 million jobs.

The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

The Labor Force Participation Rate declined in April to 62.8%. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.   A large portion of the recent decline in the participation rate is due to demographics and long term trends.

The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 60.6% (black line).

I'll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate declined in April to 3.6%.

This was above the consensus expectations of 180,000 jobs added, and February and March were revised up by 16,000 combined.  A strong report.

I'll have much more later ...