The April jobs report highlights the need for HR to create an engaging recruitment strategy

It’s that time of the month again—the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released its latest jobs report. Let’s get into it.

What’s happening? The US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month, and fewer jobs than the average over the last 12 months. But economists say the job market is still strong.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in April, well below the 303,000 in March and the 242,000 monthly average over the last year. The gains fell short of the 232,500 economists’ forecast.

The unemployment rate was 3.9%, having “changed little” compared to 3.8% in March, while the labor force participation rate held at 62.7%.

“Despite missing estimates by a bit, it’s still showing a strong labor market,” labor economist Rachel Sederberg told HR Brew. “There are segments where there may be more stress seen…But generally speaking, we haven’t seen a decline in the payroll survey since December of 2020. That’s pretty incredible.”

Zoom out. The jobs report shows that candidates have a lot of options, so HR needs to be more thoughtful when recruiting, Tracey Power, CPO at recruiting firm Vaco, told HR Brew.

“Candidates want to move quickly when they’re applying for a job,” she said. “They want to get responses quickly. As organizations are valuing the talent they’re bringing into the organization, [they’ll want to make] sure they have a strong interview process and are being very responsive to candidates in a quick amount of time.”

In addition to responding quickly, HR pros should consider changing up how they communicate with candidates, Power said. Checking in via text and social media, or even with “an old-fashioned phone call,” she said, can keep potential employees engaged and ensure they don’t feel like their application has gotten lost in the void.

When it comes to the monthly jobs reports, “people get looped up in the numbers,” Power said. “[But] from an employer standpoint, you’re always going to be looking for the best talent…It does look like there’s a bit of a kind of cooling off, but it’s still such a strong market with so many jobs open.”