April Jobs Report: Hiring Slows Again, Unemployment Falls A Bit

Many Americans -- especially those in the job market -- have been whipsawed in recent weeks in trying to determine just in which direction the economy is heading. Today's employment report did little to ease that back and forth, with the Labor Department reporting that the nation's employers added just 115,000 jobs in April, fewer than anticipated.

The nation's unemployment rate, however, fell one-tenth of a percent to 8.1 percent. But as was the case last month, the decline had less to with Americans finding jobs than with more of them dropping out of the labor market.