Unemployment touched seven year low as U.S. employers add more jobs

The U.S. unemployment rate has been declining over the past several months and economy is showing signs of strength as businesses are hiring more workers each month. The data released by the Department of Labor for April has found unemployment rate at 5.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. The hiring has remained strong but the jobs added during March and April were lower than figures expected by economy experts.

U.S. unemployment rate has come down over the recent quarters from 10 percent peak unemployment rate witnessed in October 2009. After the recession, the businesses across different sectors have witnessed strong growth. With recent slump in crude oil prices, consumers have more money to spend. The consumer demand for products and consumer sentiment has remained strong over the past few months.

The U.S. job market is expected to remain firm as businesses plan to hire more employees. Many research reports have also indicated that employers are considering wage hikes for retain talent. Wal-Mart and McDonald’s recently announced that the company will offer higher wages to the lowest paid employees.

The jobs added during April were lower than analyst expectations but still the indicators are strong for the strength in the U.S. job market. Also, an increase in average wage has been noticed during the recent economic data released by U.S. agencies. The U.S. department of Labor said that the job market has remained strong over the last three quarters, indicating higher hiring prospectus in all the sectors.

According to Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the data has not changed much in April, compared to the figures noticed during March 2015. However, the current unemployment rate at 5.4 percent is nearly 4.6-percent lower compared to unemployment recorded during October 2009, when it peaked at 10%.

But if you’re a teenager or young adult, you’re much less likely to have seen significant job market improvement compared with older adults. Our analysis of the latest employment data finds that last month, more than half (50.9%) of the nation’s nearly 8 million unemployed people are between the ages of 16 and 34 – even though that group makes up just over a third of the civilian labor force.

In a sense, though, that disparity represents a return to normal patterns. The youngest age cohorts consistently have the highest unemployment rates – at least since 2000, which is as far back as we ran the numbers. And while unemployment soared among all age groups during the Great Recession, the youngest workers were hit exceptionally hard: In 2010, unemployment averaged 25.8% among 16- to 19-year-olds, and 15.5% among 20- to 24-year-olds.

The recession, in fact, acted to spread out unemployment a bit more evenly across age groups. At the peak of the previous business cycle, in December 2007, 53.2% of the unemployed were ages 16 to 34, and 35.4% were ages 35 to 54. In January 2010, when non-seasonally adjusted unemployment peaked, the youngest adults’ share had fallen to 47.4%, while the 35-to-54 share rose to 38.9%.

Since then, unemployment has come down sharply across all age groups, but it’s fallen the least for – you guessed it – the youngest workers. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds last month was 15.6%, a 42% decrease from the level in January 2010. Among 35- to 69-year-olds, who account for more than three-fifths of the civilian labor force, just 3.9% were unemployed in April, a 55% decline from the January 2010 level; there were only minor variations within that older group.

Mark Hunter, a worker at McDonald’s restaurant in San Diego said that he is happy with the company announcing wage hike for the company-operated fast food joints. McDonald’s employees are still pushing for the company to urge the franchisees to increase wages of employees at franchisee-operated restaurants.

Wal-Mart employee Keira Sutherland said that it was difficult for her to manage the expenses with low wages. With Wal-Mart’s recent wage hike, Sutherland expects to pay her bills in time.

Stock markets are hovering around their multi-year highs. Many recently listed companies have performed exceptionally well during the first week of their listing. Investor appetite for companies with strong presence in their respective sectors in high. If the oil prices remain under $70 per barrel, we can expect the markets to remain strong.