WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in April, the most in two years, the strongest evidence to date that the economy is picking up after a brutal winter slowed growth.
The Labor Department also said Friday that the unemployment rate sank to 6.3 percent, its lowest level since September 2008, from 6.7 percent in March. But the drop occurred because the number of people working or seeking work fell sharply. People aren't counted as unemployed if they're not looking for a job.
Many of those who stopped looking for work last month had been among the long-term unemployed — people out of work for six months or more. The number of long-term unemployed dropped 300,000, the sharpest decline in 2½ years, to 3.5 million. Economists said most of them likely gave up looking for work rather than found jobs.
Yet the vigorous job growth in April provided confirmation that the U.S. economy is regaining its health after nearly stalling early this year because of a harsh winter.
Employers have now added an average of 238,000 jobs the past three months, up from 167,000 in the previous three.
Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the surge in hiring "signals that American companies are optimistic the economy will snap back smartly after the largely weather-related slump in the first quarter."
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