Employers added 266,000 workers last month, the government said, far below economists’ expectations of an increase of nearly 1 million new positions.
As the economy has rebounded from last year’s shutdowns, investors have grown worried this year that the Federal Reserve might be prompted to remove some of its emergency assistance for the economy — by raising interest rates or cutting back on its bond-buying program — sooner than anticipated.
Yields on government bonds, a primary barometer of investors’ outlook for economic growth and monetary policy, tumbled to as low as 1.46 percent in the minutes after the report before recovering to earlier levels.
Investors in high-flying sectors of the stock market have been particularly sensitive to Treasury yields this year — higher yields make risky investments less appealing.
Some analysts noted that there was good news in Friday’s report.
Recovery will remain on track, and it may be bumpy from month to month for a variety of factors.
The comments came as the Labor Department said employers added 266,000 jobs in April, far below the vigorous gains registered in March.
Ms. Yellen said that, although she was expecting to see more substantial job growth last month, the labor market was stronger than the headline numbers suggested.
Ms. Yellen also pushed back against the suggestion by some business groups and Republicans that generous jobless benefits are holding back hiring because workers are choosing to collect unemployment insurance.
Earlier this week, Ms. Yellen clarified comments that she made about the need to raise interest rates if the economy overheats, explaining that she is not prescribing that as necessary any time soon.
Federal Reserve officials have been facing a chorus of criticism for pledging to keep interest rates at rock bottom and for buying government-backed bonds at an enormous scale even as the United States economy bounces back from the pandemic.
American employers added 266,000 jobs last month, far short of the one million that economists had been expecting.
For the Fed, that unsure backdrop could serve as a validation of their policy approach.
But officials updated their policy framework after inflation failed to rise as officials expected for years on end, raising the risk that price gains would slip into an economically damaging downward spiral.
Fed doctrine had long been “to take away the punch bowl before the party gets out of hand,” Lawrence H.
Americans are coming back into the job market as the economy heals, pushing labor force participation — the share of people working or looking for jobs — slightly higher.
The participation rate rose to 61.7 percent in April, data released Friday showed, up from 61.5 percent in March.
For men and women and across many racial and ethnic groups, participation seems to be trudging back, at best, after a robust bounce earlier in the recovery.
If the labor force participation rate eventually recovers more completely, it is likely to limit how quickly the unemployment rate will fall.
Economists at Bank of America said in an April 29 research note that some 4.6 million workers were missing from the labor market compared to before the pandemic, and estimated that perhaps 1.2 million of those people had retired.
“Our careful look at the U.S.
“What was intended to be short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home,” declared Gov.
Gail Myer, whose family owns six hotels in Branson, Mo., says the $300-supplement is indeed a barrier to hiring.
Jobs at Myer Hospitality for housekeepers, breakfast attendants and receptionists are advertised as paying $12.75 to $14 an hour, plus benefits and a $500 signing bonus.
Worker advocacy groups offer a different perspective.
In surveys of food service workers by One Fair Wage and the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, three-quarters cited low wages and tips as the reason for leaving their jobs since the coronavirus outbreak.
As the pace of hiring in the United States slowed strikingly in April, the jobs that were added during the month were concentrated in the leisure and hospitality industries.
The manufacturing sector shed 18,000 jobs, transportation and warehousing lost 74,000, and professional and business services lost 79,000 positions.
The data paint a somewhat confusing picture, one in which the in-person service sector is rebounding more or less as expected — if a bit more slowly than anticipated — as state and local restrictions lift and vaccines become more widespread.
“Washingtonian embraces a culture in which employees are able to express themselves openly,” Ms. Merrill said in a statement.
Washingtonian staff, who are not part of a union, are still working from home.
Some employers, unable to fill positions, say the enhanced jobless benefits meant to cushion the pandemic’s blow are keeping people from seeking work.
Today in the On Tech newsletter, Shira Ovide talks to Don Clark, who has written about computer chips for years, about the importance of chips, why the U.S.