Unemployment stays low despite cooling jobs report

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The White House is celebrating 175,000 new jobs in April. That’s down from 315,000 added the month before.

“The job market is cooking along at a great rate,” Economic Adviser Jared Bernstein said. Even as unemployment rose from 3.8 to 3.9%, it’s still a win.

“That’s the 27th month in a row that the unemployment – but who’s counting – that the unemployment rate has been below 4%,” Bernstein added.

From court, former President Donald Trump says it’ll only get worse under President Joe Biden.

“It’s horrible. Really, really low, really bad. Our economy’s bad,” Trump said.

But economic analyst with Bankrate Mark Hamrick says it’s not that simple.

“In between the cheerleading for the economy and the sharp criticism of the economy lies the reality,” Hamrick explained. “And that is: it’s complicated.”

Hamrick says the job market is cooling down after a period of unsustainable job creation, but inflation is still sticking around.

He went on to say, “progress is being made, but we haven’t arrived at the much hope for destination of lower prices. Not yet.”

Hamrick says that could mean interest rates will stay high, costing Americans more on their mortgage and car and credit card loans.

“The Fed will continue to allow interest rates to remain at their current levels for as long as it takes to get inflation down,” Hamrick predicted.