WASHINGTON, May 2: The US labour market held up better than expected in April, with 20,000 jobs cut in the month, according to data on Friday that analysts said signalled a mild downturn and not an economic calamity.

The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey, rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5.0 per cent, the Labour Department said.

Despite the decline in non-farm payrolls, the report was better than expected by private economists, who on average had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs and a jobless rate of 5.2 per cent.

“Job losses are way below the recession norm for this point of business cycle, if this is recession,” said Robert Brusca at FAO Economics. “Many things do not really add up for the recession forecasters.”

The jobs report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, comes amid fears that the world’s largest economy may be headed for recession after being battered by a horrific decline in housing and a related credit squeeze. Yet the first-quarter report on US gross domestic product showed a small increase of 0.6 per cent.

Avery Shenfeld at CIBC World Markets said the jobs report still points to economic turmoil, with job declines in key areas such as manufacturing, construction and retailing.

“The report was milder than we thought but some of the details were not quite as encouraging,” he said.

“If you isolate the cyclical industries, employment is dropping quite quickly. It’s still not a sign the labour market is healthy.”

The report showed the economy still hurting from the housing crisis.—AFP