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What to expect in Friday's jobs report
Business > Economy • 5 min read
What to expect in Friday’s jobs report
By Alicia Wallace
Updated 19 hr ago
Updated May 7, 2026, 8:54 AM ET
PUBLISHED May 7, 2026, 5:30 AM ET
Forecasters expect the US economy to have added 67,000 jobs in April and that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
When the April jobs report is released Friday morning, it is expected to show that the US labor market added 67,000 positions. ... If so, that’s roughly one-third of the 178,000 jobs created in March.
While in comparison the April total may seem like a sharp deceleration or a tepid month of employment growth, when viewed in isolation, it could seem solid or resilient — maybe even normal.
There are plenty of logical explanations for the stark shift and the undulating payroll numbers for the first few months of 2026; however, there’s also something much bigger afoot: The job market is in the throes of an evolution.
“The labor market is absolutely transforming, and it’s not going to look the same as our pre-2020 trends,” Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, told CNN in an interview.
{snip}
What to expect in Friday’s jobs report
By Alicia Wallace
Updated 19 hr ago
Updated May 7, 2026, 8:54 AM ET
PUBLISHED May 7, 2026, 5:30 AM ET
Forecasters expect the US economy to have added 67,000 jobs in April and that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
When the April jobs report is released Friday morning, it is expected to show that the US labor market added 67,000 positions. ... If so, that’s roughly one-third of the 178,000 jobs created in March.
While in comparison the April total may seem like a sharp deceleration or a tepid month of employment growth, when viewed in isolation, it could seem solid or resilient — maybe even normal.
There are plenty of logical explanations for the stark shift and the undulating payroll numbers for the first few months of 2026; however, there’s also something much bigger afoot: The job market is in the throes of an evolution.
“The labor market is absolutely transforming, and it’s not going to look the same as our pre-2020 trends,” Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, told CNN in an interview.
{snip}