The April 2010 Employment Situation Report released by the BLS recently had somewhat mixed results with non-farm payroll increasing by 290,000, but the nation’s unemployment rate edging up to 9.9 percent, after holding at 9.7 the past three months.
Many industries upped their hiring last month, including notable increases in manufacturing jobs, business services jobs, health care jobs, and hospitality jobs. Federal government jobs also rose due to an increase in hiring for the 2010 Census.
The number of long-term unemployed people (those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more) increased last month to 6.7 million, up from 6.5 million in March. Close to half of people looking for work are considered long-term unemployed at 45.9 percent.
While the unemployment rate increased, the number of jobs rose significantly as well. Over 500,000 jobs have been added in the last two months alone, showing that employers are hiring and reinvesting in the job market again – a good sign for job seekers.
