NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. companies didn’t do much hiring in April.
Only 160,000 jobs were added last month, according to the Labor Department’s latest report. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney had predicted 197,000 jobs would be added. Goldman Sachs expected even higher: 240,000.
Concerns are rising that the U.S. economy is losing momentum. Growth is off to a slow start in 2016. Experts anticipate a spring bounce, but the sluggish April jobs report suggests that pop is either delayed or not going to be very strong.
The unemployment rate remained at 5%. Despite more people finding jobs, the rate didn’t fall because more people have started looking for work again but have yet to land jobs.
The energy sector lost another 7,000 jobs in April. Cheap oil continues to hammer the industry.
Wall Street and Main Street have also been watching wages. Workers are frustrated that their pay isn’t going up very fast. April actually saw a nice bounce in wages, which grew 2.5% annually. That’s still below the 3% to 3.5% that’s typical of a healthy U.S. economy, but it’s higher than wage growth in March.
