Dive Brief:

• Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 211,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, health care and social assistance, financial activities and mining; retail employment, as well as employment in the warehousing, manufacturing and information sectors, was little changed, according to the report.

• Similarly, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that the pace of downsizing in the U.S. eased in April. Challenger, however, also found that the retail sector saw the greatest number of job cuts among all industries, with 11,669.

• That brings the year-to-date total of retail job losses to 50,133, up 36% from the 36,977 retail-sector job cuts announced in the year-ago period, according to Challenger’s report.

Dive Insight:

While the retail sector had the highest number of job cuts in April, it’s not experiencing the overall level of employment contraction happening in the energy and tech sectors, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas CEO John A. Challenger. Much-anticipated tax reform to be taken up in Congress now that President Donald Trump has unveiled his one-page outline is likely causing many employers to hold off on major hiring decisions. Trump’s plan includes a corporate income tax rate cut from 35% to 15%, but there are few details and Congressional action is uncertain.

“The economy seems to be in a holding pattern," he said in a statement. "The government jobs report saw lower-than-expected job creation in March with 98,000 jobs added, and consumer spending has been sluggish in the first quarter." 

While the retail industry appears to be in flux when it comes to employment, the overall 4.4% unemployment rate, the lowest in 10 years, could be the bigger story for retailers, considering their dependence on consumer spending. Consumer confidence hasn't kept pace with the steady employment gains since the Great Recession, possibly because, despite some wage lifts more recently, income growth has been muted for middle- and lower-income groups. Wages gains were modest in April: average hourly earnings for employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $26.19. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 65 cents, or 2.5%; in April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 6 cents to $21.96.

The passage Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives of the president's health care plan could also give consumers pause, with many observers noting that their out-of-pocket medical costs could significantly rise. A report on that plan's financial effects is due from the Congressional Budget Office next week.