Nightly News   |  May 06, 2011

Job numbers come in stronger than expected

Despite adding 244,000 jobs in April, the unemployment rate inched up to 9 percent as the population grew and more Americans resumed their job hunt. NBC’s Tom Costello reports.

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>>> we have economic news on two fronts tonight. both hit home more than any other. jobs and gas prices . as we reported here last night, oil prices have plummeted his past week, which should bring some relief at gas pumps soon. and the april jobs numbers are just out. coming in better than most of the experts expected. so we have two reports on this front tonight, beginning with nbc's tom costello in washington.

>> reporter: the good news is that it was a private seconder, not the government, that added jobs at the fastest rate in five years last month. 57,000 jobs in retail. 51,000 professional jobs, 46,000 in leisure and hospitality. 29,000 manufacturing jobs. a-123 has hired 800 in michigan, and the ceo said he'll hire more.

>>> we aloneesh pkt to hire thousands of people.

>> in yiindiana, president obama toured a hybrid bus company that plans to add 200 jobs.

>> this is where the american economy is rebuilding.

>> reporter: despite adding 240,000 jobs in april, the unemployment rate inched up from 8.8% to 9%. as the population grew and some americans resumed their job hunt. in ft. myers, florida, natasha green has been looking for two years.

>> nobody wants to hire somebody who has been unemployed for so long.

>> reporter: and experts caution the real unemployment rate may be closer to 16% when you include the underemployed and those who have given up on a job. at this rate, it would take several more years to recover the 8 million jobs lost during the great recession. to get unemployment down to about 6% over the next three years, we're going to have to add about 360,000 jobs a month.

>> a tall order with nearly 14 million out of work americans now hoping for better days ahead. tom costello, nbc news, bethesda bethesda, maryland.