Non Farm Payrolls
The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April 2025, a slowdown from the downwardly revised 185,000 in March, but significantly surpassing market expectations of 130,000. This figure aligns closely with the average monthly gain of 152,000 over the past 12 months, despite growing uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies. Job growth was primarily seen in sectors such as health care (+51,000), transportation and warehousing (+29,000), financial activities (+14,000), and social assistance (+8,000), while federal government employment experienced a decline (-9,000). source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Unemployment Rate
The US unemployment rate was at 4.2% in April 2025, the same as in March and in line with market expectations. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 82,000 to 7.165 million, while employment grew by 436,000 to reach 163.944 million. The labor force participation rate also edged up to 62.6% from 62.5%, and the employment-population ratio to 60% from 59.9%. Additionally, the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes those marginally attached to the labor force and those working part-time for economic reasons, decreased to 7.8% in April from 7.9% in the previous month. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Factory Orders
New order for US manufactured goods surged by 4.3% from the previous month to $618.8 billion in March of 2025, accelerating from the downwardly revise 0.5% increase from the previous month and loosely in line with market expectations of a 4.5% jump. It was the sharpest increase since July of last year as clients expedited orders of goods before the aggressive tariffs by the White House kicked in during April and forced factories to raise prices. Orders surged in durable goods industries (9.2% to $315.7 billion), carried by transportation equipment (27.1% to $124.6 billion), while softer increases were noted in primary metals (1.1% to $27.9 billion), fabricated metal products (0.1% to $37 billion) and machinery (0.1% to $37.8 billion). On the other hand, orders fell for computers and electronic products (-1.3% to $25.4 billion). source: U.S. Census Bureau
