Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected payroll growth of 192,000 and the jobless rate to drop by one-tenth of a percent to 4.0 percent. The official jobs tally showed an increase from an upwardly revised 135,000 in March.
"The expectations were a little bit elevated going into this probably just because last month's report was a little bit weaker," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management. "Net-net this was a little bit softer than people were expecting. This goes into a lot of the other data that we've been seeing, ... a little bit of a soft patch."
The closely watched average hourly earnings number rose by 4 cents, equating to a 2.6 percent annualized gain, a bit off the pace from the previous month and a shade less than expected. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.1 hours.
A more encompassing measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons fell to 7.8 percent, the lowest since July 2001. Unemployment for blacks fell to a fresh record-low of 6.6 percent, down 0.3 percent.
