Jobs Report Blows Out Estimates, Futures Soar

Talk about a good month. In the month of April, the country created 244,000 jobs, well above the 185,000 jobs that economists were expecting. The unemployment rate did bump up, going to 9.0% versus the estimates of 8.8%, but the private sector showed incredible strength in the month of April. The private sector created 268,000 jobs, 68,000 more jobs created than were expected. Government jobs fell 24,000 jobs, as the government continues to tighten its belt. Breaking down the report shows that the manufacturing sector continued to lead the way, creating 29,000 jobs, versus the 19,000 jobs that were expected to be created. The average work week stayed constant, at 34.3 hours, and average hourly earnings actually rose 0.1%, versus the 0.2% estimate. The unemployment rate rose because employment shrank by 190,000 in household survey. Here is the full report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Remember that McDonald's MCD hired 62,000 workers during the month, after originally saying it would hire 50,000 due to demand in its restaurants. The futures spiked on the back of this news, with the Dow futures up 100 points, S&P 500 futures are up 10.9 points, and the Nasdaq futures are up 19.25 points.