US non-farm payroll employment grew just 266k in April, well below expectation of 950k. Prior month’s figure was also revised down from 916k to 770k. Total non-farm employment was still down -8.2m, or -5.4%, comparing to pre-pandemic level in February 2020. Unemployment rate edged up to 6.1%, above expectation of 5.7%. Labor force participation rate rose 0.2% to 61.7%. Wage growth, however, was strong, with average hourly erarnings up 0.7% mom, versus expectation of 0.1% mom.
