Payroll services saw a rise in the number of new employees in April.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported unemployment has dropped 0.4 percent since January, bringing the rate to 7.5 percent in April, the lowest since December 2008.
The month saw stronger gains than economists previously expected. Reuters reports economists estimated 145,000 jobs would be added during April, but the month exceeded projections by 20,000 with 165,000 total gains. Industries that saw the biggest improvements were professional and business services, retail and healthcare. Construction has only seen small increases despite the labor gap currently plaguing the industry. Over the past six months, construction has averaged 27,000 jobs per month.
However, temporary services had a significant improvement of 31,000 positions during April.
Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco, told Reuters the gains depict a slowly improving economy that many are still worried will fall back into a recession.
"This bolsters the case that the U.S. economy will be able to survive the combined headwinds of sequestration and a deepening recession in Europe," Anderson said.
