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Research - MAY 9, 2016

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Unemployment rate remains unchanged

by Zoë Wolff

April saw the addition of 160,000 new jobs in the United States, lower than the average monthly gain of 232,000 over the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment gains for February and March have been revised and were a combined 19,000 less than previously reported. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 200,000 per month.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5 percent and the number of unemployed persons showed little change at 7.9 million. Neither measure has experienced much change since August 2015.

The number of long-term unemployed decreased by 150,000; however, approximately 360,000 people left the civilian work force in April, leading to a 0.2 percent drop in the labor force participation rate to 62.8 percent.

The healthcare and professional and business services sectors continued to see the strongest growth, adding 44,000 and 65,000 jobs in April, respectively. Financial activities added 20,0

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