American employers add 1,15,000 new jobs amid West Asia conflict

America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war.

Hiring was better than the 65,000 forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3 per cent.

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average US gasoline prices surging past USD 4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far. Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and retailers 22,000. However, manufacturers cut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs. Labour Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 per cent from March and 3.6 per cent from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent inflation target.  Baby Boomer retirements and Trump’s immigration crackdown mean that fewer people are competing for work and that the economy doesn’t need to generate as many jobs as it used to.

Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics says the so-called break-even point - the number of new jobs required each month to keep the unemployment rate from rising - is now near zero. The jobless rate is expected, in fact, to have remained at a low 4.3 per cent in April, according to FactSet.

After the US and Israel launched their attacks February 28, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. The disruption has caused a painful increase in the price of energy and led many economists to downgrade their estimates for global and US economic growth.

But the fallout isn’t showing up yet in the US job market.

Payroll processor ADP reported Wednesday that private employers added a solid 109,000 jobs in April. The ADP figure isn’t a reliable guide to what the Labour Department will report Friday – but the pace of hiring it showed was the fastest since January 2025. And on Tuesday the Labour Department reported that a measure of gross hiring – before subtracting those who left or lost their jobs – was stronger in March than it had been in more than two years.

The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trump’s tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.

The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025.

Employers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, fewest outside a recession year since 2002. High interest rates and uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies held back hiring.

There’s been progress this year, but it’s been uneven - strong growth (160,000 new jobs) in January, March (185,000) and April’s 115,000 and one bad month (employers cut 156,000 jobs in February).

US hiring, though, has been dominated by one industry: Healthcare companies, catering to an aging American population, have added 456,000 jobs over the past year; other employers have combined to cut 205,000 over the 12 months that ended in April.

The strong hiring data lands as US corporations post solid quarterly performances to start the year.