April jobs report expected to show gains despite Iran war pressure

Iran warApril jobs report expected to show gains despite Iran war pressureThe Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report will land at a moment when gas hovers around $4.55 per gallon, up 50% since the war started in late February.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00The consensus among economists is that Friday's jobs report will show the U.S. added positions in April; but not everyone is that optimistic. Joe Raedle / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 8, 2026, 5:00 AM EDTBy Steve KopackThe April jobs report will be released Friday morning, and it is expected to show a resilient U.S. labor market even in the face of a global energy shock triggered by the U.S. war with Iran.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.After a strong March report showed 178,000 positions added nationwide, economists polled by Dow Jones expect Friday’s report will show another 55,000 roles added in April and a steady unemployment rate of at 4.3%. The Dow Jones-surveyed economists also expect to see average hourly earnings tick up from a 3.5% annual rate in March to 3.8% in April.But the labor market has experienced volatility in recent months, and at least three of the last five jobs reports showed contractions in hiring. Some Wall Street analysts predict there will be a net loss of jobs, not a gain. Economists at Citigroup expect a loss of 15,000 jobs in Friday’s report, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.“Hiring rates remain subdued but ... enough to keep the unemployment rate stable in recent months,” Andrew Hollenhorst, chief U.S. economist at Citigroup, wrote in a note Thursday.Over the past several years, a pattern has emerged, he noted, with “a period of stronger labor market data to start the year followed by weaker data in the spring and summer.”But analysts at Bank of America took the opposite view, writing this week that they expect “another strong month in the labor market.” In a client note...