U.S. Job Growth: April 2025 Employment Numbers - Sigmanomics

The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April 2025 led by Health care and transportation sectors exceeding economists expectations of 130,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This The result surprised wall street as this occurred amid economic uncertainties surrounding President Donald Trump’s on again – off again tariff policies.

Unemployment rate remained unchanged at its historically low 4.2 percent. The labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.6 percent, with employment-population ration also staying flat. Diving further into the report, average hourly earnings increased by 6 cents to $36.06 in April 2025.

Sector specific, healthcare lead the march with 51,000 new positions, while transportation and financial activities followed by 29,000 and 14,000 jobs respectively. The rise in healthcare represents one of the most consistent areas of growth over the past year, largely driven by access to healthcare and aging. Worth noting, social assistance saw an tick higher as well of 8,000 jobs though this figure dipped below its 12-month average.

April’s report marks another month of improved gains; however, it is worth noting that this rise is on the back on growing recession fears.

Following announcement of the data, stock futures rose with Dow futures up 300 points or 0.7% and S&P 500 futures rising 0.78 percent.

Market Moves

S&P 500 futures

The S&P 500 extended its 8 day gain on the back of the better than expected news with bulls now eying pivot high resistance at 5837. Failure to overcome this barrier will likely place pressure back on the asset with return to recent lows. Furthermore, technical traders will be keeping their eye on the MACD indicator as both the fast and slow length lines remains below midpoint. A crossover of the short term length back underneath slow length could spell trouble for S&P 500 futures.

Going forward, traders will closely monitor FOMC meeting, with the reserve expected to maintain interest rates and adopt a wait-and-see approach due to mixed economic signals. Trumps “Liberation day” tariffs, which raise duties on Chinese goods to 145% has placed considerable uncertainty into the market. Key themes that will be of focus in the near-to-medium term are tariffs, rate policy and recession signals. Thus, despite todays optimistic jobs report, the full impact of trade policies should not be overlooked as impact will likely show in the coming months.

Written by Sigmanomics team

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