This is the first of two blogs today we will devote to the April jobs report. Here we will take a broad look at the results, while the next post will dive into some of the specifics. Here are some highlights.

• The headline number showed 160,000 jobs created in April, missing expectations of just over 200,000.
• 160,000 was the least amount of jobs created in any month since last September at 149,000.
• We are at a record of 67 straight months of jobs growth. The previous record was 48 months from 1986–1990.
• Over the past nine months, all but two months have gained more than 200,000. April and January were the two that missed the mark.
• The three-month average job growth dipped to 184,000 from a peak of 282,000 in December 2015.
• Going back 25 years, April has created more jobs than any other month at 141,000 on average. The weakest month is August, at 86,000 on average.
• The unemployment rate came in at 5.0% for the second month in a row.
• The unemployment rate has been within 0.1% of 5% for nine straight months.
• The participation rate fell for the first time after four straight months of gains, just missing out on tying the record of five straight gains from 1977.
• April marked the first month the participation rate dropped after six straight months without falling (staying flat or gaining). This was the longest streak since 2005. The longest streak without a drop was nine straight months in 1966.
• Wages gained 0.3% and hourly pay was up 2.5% over the past year.

Be on the lookout for our second blog on this subject later today where we look at the widening disconnect between the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the market.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

The economic forecasts set forth in the presentation may not develop as predicted.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide or be construed as providing specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual security.

The monthly jobs report (known as the employment situation report) is a set of labor market indicators based on two separate surveys distributed in one monthly report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The report includes the unemployment rate, non-farm payroll employment, the average number of hours per week worked in the non-farm sector, and the average basic hourly rate for major industries.

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