The United States added 177,000 jobs in April, more than analysts had expected, in the face of broader economic uncertainty sparked by President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Last month's job gains were a bit softer than the revised 185,000 added in March, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but ahead of forecasts for 133,000 net new roles in April. The annual unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2%.

Transportation and warehousing employers added 29,000 roles in April as consumers and businesses went on a pre-tariff buying spree of foreign goods. Federal government head counts, meanwhile, fell by 9,000 and have declined by 26,000 since January, reflecting the impact of sweeping cuts largely driven by multibillionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative.Despite the jobs gains, the report showed signs of a slowing economy elsewhere. Average hourly earnings climbed just 0.17% for the month, below the 0.3% forecast by economists. The share of unemployed people out of work for at least 27 weeks also returned to its pandemic-era high of 23.5%. So did the median unemployment duration, which climbed to 10.4 weeks.

Those latter two figures "both suggest that it is taking longer for unemployed workers to find new opportunities, and reinforce a growing divide in the market between those out of work and those who are employed," Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab said in a statement. "So far in 2025, the market has been marked by a low firing, low hiring trend that can’t last forever."Trump took to his Truth Social platform following the report to repeat his recent calls for another rate cut.

"Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!! Consumers have been waiting for years to see pricing come down. NO INFLATION, THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!! DJT," the president wrote, returning to a theme he has recently emphasized despite campaigning on "immediate" economic relief.

Some analysts expect to see further headwinds turn up in the weeks and months ahead. The impact of tariffs on slowing port shipments, for instance, has begun to appear only recently.

“Not unlike an earthquake that’s offshore, it can take a while for the tsunami to come to land,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at the consumer finance firm Bankrate. "So what happens after that? You have a diminution in cargo being trucked or perhaps carried by rail to some degree across the country," he said, which could lead to supply chain disruptions that "consumers will begin to notice at some point in the coming weeks or months."

Hamrick also pointed to cracks in a retail landscape where hiring has flatlined, and warned that even modest sales declines due to potential product shortages "can be sufficiently significant to cause a problem, and therefore then be reflected in employment trends.”