Job Cuts Fewer Than Expected in April

Washington, DC, May 2, 2008--Employers cut fewer jobs in April expected and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, the Labor Department said Friday.
 
For the fourth month in a row, the economy lost jobs, this time 20,000, after an 81,000 decline in March.

Economists were expecting job cuts of 75,000 and for the unemployment rate to climb to 5.2 percent.

Construction companies cut 61,000 positions in April. Manufacturers cut 46,000 and retailers slashed 27,000. Those losses were offset by job gains in education and health care, professional and business services, the government and elsewhere.

Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.88 in April, a  0.1 percent rise from the previous month, lesss than the 0.3 percent rise economists were forecasting. Over the last 12 months, wages have increased by 3.4 percent.

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