On Friday morning, May 2, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) delivered some good economic news: in April 2025, the United States added 177,000 new jobs — which is less than the 185,000 jobs added in March but higher than the 133,000 the Dow Jones was predicting.
The jobs report demonstrates that President Donald Trump inherited a generally strong economy from former President Joe Biden. But the BLS figures for April come at a time when many economists are warning that Trump's steep new tariffs are a recipe for soaring prices, supply-chain problems, a weaking U.S. dollar, and empty store shelves.
CNN's Matt Egan offered some economic analysis of the April jobs report, noting that while the figures are a pleasant surprise, they may be the "calm before the storm."
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"Thankfully, those recession fears are not showing up in the jobs market, at least not yet," Egan explained. "If anything, this jobs market has been dominated by another R-word, and that is resilience. Let me run you through the numbers. The latest report shows that the economy added 177,000 jobs in April; that is a solid number in any month, but especially now given everything that's gone on."
Egan added that the United States' unemployment rate of 4.2 percent in April is a "relatively low number." Showing a chart with BLS job figures for March 2024-April 2025, Egan described the "hiring" in the U.S. as "relentless."
"If you were asleep for the past three months, you almost wouldn't know that we're in the middle of a global trade war and there's been extreme turbulence on Wall Street," Egan commented. "Now, where are the jobs? We're seeing a couple of significant gains in some key sectors, health care adding more than 50,000 jobs last month alone. Leisure and hospitality — that's bars and restaurants, hotels — also adding jobs….. The big trillion-dollar question, though: Is this the calm before the storm?"
Egan continued, "Because remember, the full impact from the trade war has not hit the economy yet. Many economists fear that when it does, it's going to eventually hurt the jobs market. A veteran economist, Greg Daco, he told me, sure, this looks like the perfect jobs report, but there's also the risk that it is just a mirage."
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Watch the full report below or at this link.