By Ethan Faverino |

The Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update for April 2026, showing the U.S. economy added 115,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, exceeding expectations. The gain was driven entirely by the private sector which added 123,000 jobs, while government employment declined 8,000.

Nonfarm payroll employment now stands at 158.74 million, with private sector payrolls at 135.43 million and government payrolls at 23.31 million. The headline unemployment rate (U-3) held steady at 4.3%, while the broader U-6 measure, which includes underemployment, rose 0.2 percentage points to 8.2%. The labor force participation rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 61.8%.

March’s job gain was revised upward by 8,000 to a total of 185,000, while February’s figure was revised downward by 64,000, resulting in a net loss of 156,000 jobs for that month.

In April, the strongest job gains occurred in trade, transportation, and utilities, which added 60,000 positions, and private education and health services, which added 46,000. Losses were recorded in information (-13,000) and financial activities (-11,000).

Over the past year, from April 2025 to April 2026, private education and health services led with 618,000 new jobs, followed by leisure and hospitality with 142,000. The largest declines came in federal government (-311,00) and information (-92,000).

Wage growth remained moderate over the year. Average nominal weekly and hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls both increased by 3.57%. For production and nonsupervisory employees, average nominal weekly earnings rose 3.97%, while average nominal hourly earnings increased 3.67%.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for March 2026 showed job openings declining by 56,000 to 6.87 million, with the rate falling to 4.1%. Private education and health services and financial activities posted gains in openings, while professional and business services experienced the largest drop. Hires increased sharply by 655,000 to 5.55 million, and total separations rose by 356,000 to 5.38 million, with both quits and layoffs and discharges seeing notable increases.

In Arizona, the labor market softened in March as the state lost 2,600 net payroll jobs and the unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 4.7%, following a gain of 10,100 jobs the previous month.

Over the past 12 months, Arizona has lost 8,600 net payroll jobs while its unemployment rate has risen 0.5 percentage points from 4.2%. The state’s private sector lost 2,400 jobs in March, and employment overall fell by 19,093 during the month. Arizona’s labor force participation rate declined to 61.4% ranking 34th in the nation.

From February to March 2026, Arizona saw gains in private education and health services and professional and business services, offset by losses in leisure and hospitality and trade, transportation, and utilities. Over the full year, private education and health services rained the strongest performer in the spare, while trade, transportation, and utilizes and financial activities posted the largest declines.

Nationally, the labor force participation rate stood at 61.9% in March.

Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.