Employers added a weaker-than-expected 164,000 new positions for the month while the jobless rate fell to 3.9 percent, its lowest level since December 2000. Unemployment among African-Americans fell to 6.6 percent, the lowest since such records began more than 46 years ago.
President Donald Trump hailed the drop in unemployment, which had held steady at 4.1 percent for six months, and has taken credit for the robust economy, which has been a bright spot amid an unbroken string of political scandals.
"The unemployment rate -- we saw that just today -- just fell beneath four percent for the first time since the beginning of this century," Trump exclaimed triumphantly at a Nataional Rifle Association conference in Texas.
Employment gains were broad-based across industries, with largest increases in business services, health care, education, construction and manufacturing. But auto manufacturing, government and wholesale trade all shrank.
Economists said the increase, the 91st consecutive monthly gain, was more than enough to keep up with population growth and put average job creation over the prior three months at 208,000, well above the 182,000 recorded in 2017.
But after weak hiring in March, April also underperformed, as economists had forecast a gain of 190,000 new jobs.
And the labor force participation rate fell to its lowest level since January, accounting for some of the drop in unemployment as people bowed out of the job hunt.
So the sudden fall in the jobless rate means the total size of the labor force was not increasing, which is likely to make it harder to find workers and could drive up inflation.