The U.S. added 266,000 jobs in April, falling well below expectations for a gain of 1 million jobs. The miss could calm concerns that an overheating economy may lead to inflation.The unemployment rate edged up from 6% to 6.1%.
The miss happened despite increased vaccination rates and is bound to slow the narrative that macroeconomic uncertainty in the U.S. labor market is decreasing. While the latest bitcoin bull run has been led by institutions, a decrease in macroeconomic uncertainty could allow households to spend more on digital assets.
The April numbers followed 916,000 jobs that were added in March.
The labor force participation rate – the percentage of the American population that is either working or actively looking for work – ticked up slightly to 61.7% from 61.5% in the previous month’s report.
