May 05, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Payrolls in April 2008

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in April (-20,000), following job losses that totaled 240,000 in the first 3 months of the year.

Over-the-month change in payroll employment, April 2007-April 2008
[Chart data—TXT]

Job losses continued in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade.

Employment grew in health care and in professional and technical services.

These data are from the BLS Current Employment Statistics program, and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. More information can be found in "The Employment Situation: April 2008" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 08-0588.