US jobs grow again: Here's where the most jobs are still available

Friday's jobs report showed an uptick in the number of jobs created in April, but overall job growth appears to be slowing. For the 5.7 million unemployed people still looking for work, this could be a worrisome trend.

The U.S. economy gained 253,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. April's job gains were well below the six-month average of 290,000.

And while there's little to suggest that the economy will be losing jobs soon. However, some recent data points suggest that the job market may be starting to feel the Fed's continued campaign to fight inflation with 10 consecutive interest-rate increases.

Still more jobs in the U.S. than people to fill them

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has pointed to the tight job market as a continued concern in taming inflation, suggesting that a limited pool of available workers could drive wages higher and keep inflation above the Fed's 2% inflation target. Average hourly earnings rose 16 cents in April to $33.36, a 4.4% rise from last year.

There are still 1.6 job openings for every unemployed American looking for work. That's well above the pre-pandemic average of about 1.2 jobs per job seeker but significantly below last March when there were two jobs per every worker and 2.6 million more job openings, according to the BLS.

Construction layoffs jumped in March

The Fed's interest rate increases first slowed housing sales by making new monthly mortgage payments more expensive. Could that same dynamic be playing out now in home construction as well as other sectors of the economy?

In March, municipalities issued 100,000 fewer housing permits than they did in February and nearly 450,000 fewer than March 2022. A decrease in new projects may be driving a decline in construction jobs. That same month, 294,000 construction workers were laid off – up from 182,000 in February, according to BLS data released Wednesday.

Monthly layoffs rose from 1.4 million in March 2022 to 1.8 million in March 2023. Real estate and retail trade were the only private sector industries that didn't see an uptick in layoffs from last year.

Layoffs rose in nearly all sectors from the year before

So where to look for a job?

Only five states had more job openings at the end of April than they did the previous year, according to Indeed's Hiring Lab. Still, each state has more posted jobs on Indeed, one of the country's largest job sites, than it did before the pandemic in February 2020.

Number of job listings falling around the country

And what jobs are available?

The jobs that remain in highest demand fit largely into health care services such as physicians and surgeons, therapists, and medical technicians. Some listings on Indeed have fallen below pre-pandemic levels such as software development, marketing, and media and communications.

Sectors with the biggest one-year changes in job listings

In broader categories, the BLS had very similar findings in its job openings and labor turnover report on Wednesday. More than 1.5 million openings remain in categories such as professional and business services, and health care and social assistance.

Friday's jobs report also showed continued strength in health care hiring as well as professional and business services – one of the few sectors that added more jobs than its six-month average.

Sectors with the biggest job gains in April

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: April jobs report impact: Where are open jobs? Here's what data shows.