---
title: "US Payrolls Beat Forecasts Again in April as Health Care, Warehousing Lead Gains"
url: https://www.herespartanburg.com/us-payrolls-april-2026-beat-forecasts/
date: 2026-05-09T04:58:23-04:00
modified: 2026-05-09T05:00:03-04:00
author: "A. Preston Acker"
categories: ["Business"]
site: "HERESpartanburg"
attribution: "HERESpartanburg"
---

# US Payrolls Beat Forecasts Again in April as Health Care, Warehousing Lead Gains

> US nonfarm payrolls rose 115,000 in April 2026, beating a consensus forecast of 55,000 for the second straight month, with health care and transportation leading gains as federal employment continued to contract.

*Source: [HERESpartanburg](https://www.herespartanburg.com/us-payrolls-april-2026-beat-forecasts/) — May 9, 2026 by A. Preston Acker*

The United States economy added 115,000 jobs in April, according to the latest monthly employment report, far exceeding analyst consensus forecasts of around 55,000 and marking the second consecutive month payrolls have beaten expectations. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent.

The April gain followed a revised March figure of 185,000 jobs — revised upward from an initial estimate of 178,000 — and represents a sharp rebound from a February decline of 156,000 positions. The strong back-to-back performance came despite ongoing economic headwinds including elevated energy costs and subdued consumer confidence. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose by 6 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $37.41 in April, reflecting a 3.6 percent year-over-year wage increase.

Health care led all sectors with 37,000 new positions in April, in line with the industry’s average monthly pace of 32,000 over the prior 12 months. Nursing and residential care facilities added 15,000 jobs while home health care services contributed 11,000. Transportation and warehousing followed with 30,000 new hires, driven largely by gains in couriers and messengers. Retail trade added 22,000 positions, with warehouse clubs and supercenters accounting for the bulk of that growth, while social assistance employment gained 17,000.

Not all sectors fared as well. Federal government employment fell by another 9,000 in April, extending a sustained contraction that has trimmed the federal workforce by 348,000 positions — an 11.5 percent decline — since October 2024. The information sector shed 13,000 jobs, continuing a multi-year retreat now totaling 342,000 positions, or 11 percent, since late 2022. Analysts attribute much of that long-run loss to automation and the growing footprint of artificial intelligence across technology services.

The same federal employment data noted that the number of Americans working part time for economic reasons — those who would prefer full-time work but have had hours cut or cannot find full-time positions — rose by 445,000 to 4.9 million in April, a signal economists are watching for signs of a softening labor market beneath the headline payroll figure. The labor force participation rate remained at 61.8 percent.

Financial markets interpreted the data as a sign the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting, as continued labor market resilience gives policymakers less urgency to cut. Forecasters have noted the unemployment rate could drift higher toward 4.7 percent by year-end, at which point the Fed might have room to begin easing.

For South Carolina, the labor picture heading into April showed continued stability. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in March 2026, per the state’s monthly workforce report, a tick lower than the 5.0 percent recorded in February but still above the 4.2 percent rate of a year earlier. Total nonfarm employment in South Carolina reached 2,399,100 in March, with the state adding a net 12,100 jobs over the prior year. Manufacturing employment edged up 1,900 positions year-over-year to 264,000, a category heavily anchored in the Upstate by BMW Manufacturing, Michelin, and Milliken.

In Spartanburg County specifically, the most recent data showed a labor force of approximately 175,807 workers in March, with 168,410 employed and a county unemployment rate of 4.2 percent — well below the state average. The Spartanburg metro area, which includes Union County, added 700 jobs over the past year to reach 178,900 total nonfarm positions, per state workforce figures.

Upstate employers anchored to manufacturing have remained consistent employers through the recent national volatility. BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg County, the company’s only North American production plant and the largest BMW plant in the world by volume, continues to operate a workforce of more than 11,000 and has maintained active hiring programs in 2026 through partnerships with Spartanburg Community College. Michelin’s Spartanburg facilities, part of a North American network that employs more than 20,000 workers, have posted multiple production and maintenance openings at the US3 plant on New Cut Road. Milliken, headquartered in Spartanburg, operates across textiles and specialty chemicals and has continued its footprint as one of the county’s largest private employers.

OneSpartanburg Inc., the county’s workforce development organization, has also been expanding its EDGE initiative — a work-based learning program that lined up more than 600 paid internship and apprenticeship positions for high school students in 2026, up from 500 in 2025 and 203 at launch in 2024. The program connects students with local manufacturers and professional services employers, building a pipeline the county is counting on as national hiring trends remain uneven.

Senator Tim Scott, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee and has long prioritized labor market issues as part of his economic policy platform, has been a vocal supporter of policies aimed at sustaining employment growth in manufacturing-heavy states like South Carolina. Representative William Timmons, who represents the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor in Congress and serves on the House Financial Services Committee, has emphasized the importance of maintaining a business environment that supports the Upstate’s large employers as they navigate tariff-related supply chain pressures and shifting demand.

The next national employment report, covering May 2026 data, is scheduled for release on June 5, 2026. State-level employment figures for April are expected on May 22, 2026.