April?s job report was looking up as 288,000 jobs were added and the unemployment level fell to 6.3%. This represents the lowest unemployment rate since September of 2008. Average hourly earnings remained mostly unchanged from March, but the labor force participation rate declined sharply after a drop of 806,000. Although signals were both positive and neutral, this large a number of jobs has not been added to the economy since January two years ago.
See "Report Shows Resurgence of Hiring but Has Downbeat Notes", Nelson D. Schwartz, The New York Times, May 1, 2014