Job Losses Fall in April to Six Month Low

Washington, DC, May 8, 2009--There were signs of hope as the monthly job loss total fell to the lowest level in six months in April.

The Labor Department reported Friday that employers cut 539,000 jobs from payrolls in the month. That's an improvement from the revised reading of 699,000 that were lost in March, and the best reading since October, when the economy shed 380,000 jobs.

Economists had forecast a loss of 600,000 in April, but there had been signs in recent days that the job losses might not be as bad as expected. A reading on private sector employment by payroll services firm ADP showed a big drop in job losses in April, and there has been a steady decline in recent weeks in people filing for first-time unemployment benefits.

There was a 72,000 increase in government jobs, many of them workers hired to conduct the 2010 census. The health services and education sector added 15,000 jobs.

But 72% of private industry sectors reported job losses in the month, although that was an improvement from the nearly 80% that shed jobs in March.

Construction lost another 110,000 jobs while manufacturing shed 149,000 workers and retailers cut staff by 47,000.

The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey, rose to 8.9% from 8.5% in March, the worst reading since September 1983.