Unemployment holds steady at 5.0%

The U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in April, which was enough to hold the unemployment rate at 5.0%, even as employment decreased for building material dealers and residential specialty trade contractors.

Though the residential construction industry added 7,100 jobs, residential specialty trade contractors were down 10,900 jobs.

Meanwhile, building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers were down 2,400 jobs in April as well.

The biggest job gains occurred in professional and business services (65,000), healthcare (44,000) and financial activities (20,000).

The biggest losses continued in mining, which declined by 7,000 jobs in April and is down 191,000 jobs since September 2014.

The number of unemployed persons was little changed at 7.9 million, though the number of long-term unemployed declined by 150,000 to 2.1 million in April. The number of people marginally attached to the labor force was also down by 400,000 year-over-year. However, the labor force participation rate also decreased to 62.8%.