April Brought 244,000 New Jobs, But Unemployment Ticks Back to 9 Percent

By Z. Byron Wolf
@zbyronwolf
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ABC News' Dan Arnall (@abcmoneyguy) reports:

A government report shows that the nation’s employers increased their payrolls by 244,000 during April, better than the consensus expectations of economists that employers would add 185,000.

The private sector, which factors out government layoffs and hiring, saw 268,000 workers added to payrolls. That’s the best monthly jobs growth from the private sector since February 2006.

The nation’s unemployment rate jumped from 8.8% to 9.0%. A statistically significant move to the same level as January.

There were slight upward revisions to the previous two months which has added to the momentum of consistent jobs growth.

We'll have a more thorough analysis later this morning.