Employment situation presents momentary relief

After a worrisome start to the year, the labor market pulled ahead with the addition of 223,000 jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate down to a seven-year low of 5.4%.

This is only slightly lower than economists' expected growth of 224,000 jobs, according to CNBC. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey pinned that number at 228,000.

In comparison, March's jobs report only pointed to 85,000 new jobs.

The Labor Department reported that the number of unemployed persons was virtually unchanged at 8.5 million, though that number has decreased by 1.1 million over the course of the past year.

April's jobs gain saw the most significant increases in professional and business services (62,000), health care (45,000), and construction (also 45,000).

In construction, specialty trade contractors saw the lion's share of the gains (41,000). However, employment was down by 8,000 jobs in nonresidential building construction.

Building material and garden equipment supply stores added 2,800 jobs in April, pushing the total figure to 1.26 million (on a seasonally adjusted basis).