US job growth slows in April; unemployment stays at 4.2%

US JOB GROWTH slowed marginally in April, but the outlook for the labor market is increasingly darkening as President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policy heightens economic uncertainty.

- LUCIA MUTIKANI

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 177,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 185,000 in March, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its closely watched employment report on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 130,000 jobs added last month after a previously reported 228,000 advance in March. Estimates ranged from 25,000 to 195,000 jobs added.

The economy needs to create roughly 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.