For Immediate Release: Friday, May 4, 2012
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

April job growth of 115,000 likely understates trend

EPI economist Heidi Shierholz explains in today’s Jobs Picture that the average job growth of the last three months – 176,000 – is probably the best measure of the current underlying trend. This trend is above the roughly 100,000 jobs per month needed to keep the unemployment rate stable. The analysis reveals that despite ongoing improvements, the labor market still has a deficit of close to 10 million jobs, drastic disparities in the unemployment rates of racial and ethnic minorities compared to whites, and graduates facing a very weak labor market.

National employment and unemployment data are updated monthly on The State of Working America website.