Unexpected Growth In Jobs In April; Rasmussen College Director Advises Students Consider Business, Healthcare, And Technology Fields

While experts were forecasting a growth of only 185,000 new jobs in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released May 6, 2011 tells a different story; there were actually 244,000 new jobs created in April, a difference of nearly 30 percent.

“It is encouraging to note that nearly 40 percent of the new jobs added were in the business, healthcare, or technology sector,” Hennessy said. “I would advise any person considering going to college to consider degrees in those fields, as they are the fastest growing and have remained stable over the past several months.”

Although significant job gains were seen in the private sector, government jobs continued to decline. Federal government lost 2,000 jobs, State governments lost 8,000 jobs and local governments lost 14,000 jobs in both education (4,700) and non education (9,200) sectors.

Good news does remain for those who have college credentials. The unemployment rate actually increased for those with only a high school diploma to 9.7 percent while the unemployment rate for someone with a bachelor’s degree is more than half that—4.5 percent. Of note is that the unemployment rate actually increased for those without a high school diploma nearly one percentage point, from 13.7 to 14.6 percent.

While the continued job gains are encouraging, Hennessy does note that the U.S. is still significantly far from where it was prior to the economic downturn.

“The economy has added some 1.5 million jobs over the past year, but there are still seven million fewer jobs than the U.S. had before the downturn,” Hennessy said. “A slowdown in growth in the first quarter is expected to keep companies from ramping up hiring in future months at a pace to create a significantly healthier employment rate for the country.”