U.S. Economy Adds 177,000 Jobs in April, Beating Expectations

U.s. Economy Adds 177,000 Jobs In April, Beating Expectations

Boom! The U.S. job market just dropped a surprise like Beyoncé at midnight — 177,000 new jobs in April, blowing past the 130K Wall Street was expecting.

This isn’t a “meh” Monday kind of report. It’s a wake-up-and-hire-everybody kind of flex from the economy.

The Labor Department came in hot Friday morning with the news. CNBC confirmed — this is no fluke. It’s a solid win for Team USA (Jobs Edition).

Healthcare led the charge like it was on a Red Bull drip, adding 51,000 jobs. Transportation and warehousing? They weren’t slacking either — up by 29K. Even finance got in on the action with 14,000 new gigs.

Meanwhile, average hourly earnings ticked up to $36.06, which is 6 cents more than last month. Hey, we’ll take it. A little extra cash means one more streaming subscription… or maybe just gas.

The unemployment rate? Holding steady at 4.2%. Not breaking any records, but not scaring anyone either.

Now, before you throw on your party hat, a quick reality check: federal government jobs dipped by 9,000. Womp womp. And the number of long-term unemployed ticked up too — 1.7 million people still looking after more than six months out.

But markets were living their best lives. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq all bounced higher after the news. Clearly, Wall Street loves a good jobs surprise more than Hollywood loves a surprise cameo.

April might not have been a blockbuster, but it definitely got the critics nodding. A solid B+ performance with sequel potential.