The job market is healing for everyone—except in the office

The U.S. labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, beating economist expectations and marking the second straight month of gains. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%.After a 2025 where monthly job growth averaged an anemic 10,000, the 2026 average is now 76,000—enough of an improvement that economists are starting to ask whether the “hiring recession” of the past two years is finally ending.

For much of the labor market, the answer looks like yes. Health care added 37,000 jobs, transportation and warehousing added 30,000, and social assistance trended up. For two years, essentially the only jobs that were hiring were in the public sector and healthcare, until DOGE gutted the federal workforce and left healthcare to do it alone.

Now labor market gains are broadening. Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, wrote in a note that the job market is “inching out of low hire, low........

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