Chart: Employment changes by industry in April 2010

Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 290,000 in April. Since December 2009, non-farm payroll employment has expanded by 573,000, with 483,000 jobs added in the private sector. Among major industries, sizable employment gains occurred in manufacturing, professional and business services, and in leisure and hospitality.

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Within professional and business services, employment rose by 80,000 in April. Temporary help services continued to add jobs (26,000). Since September 2009, employment in professional and business services has increased by 330,000.

Federal government employment was up in April, reflecting the hiring of 66,000 temporary workers for the decennial census.

Leisure and hospitality gained 45,000 over the month. Much of this increase occurred in accommodation and food services, which added 29,000 jobs.

Manufacturing added 44,000 jobs in April. Since December, factory employment has risen by 101,000. Over the month, gains occurred in several durable goods industries, including fabricated metals (9,000) and machinery (7,000). Employment also grew in nondurable goods manufacturing (14,000).

Employment in transportation and warehousing fell by 20,000 in April, reflecting a large decline in courier and messenger services.

This data is from the Current Empoyment Statistics program. This data is seasonally adjusted, and data for the most recent two months is preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation – April 2010," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-10-0589.