Data from the US Department of Labor on the state of the US labor market in April indicated an increase in the number of jobs in the country by 263,000, after increasing by 189,000 a month earlier. The April figure significantly exceeded the forecasts of economists, who had expected an increase in the number of jobs by only 190 thousand. Production companies increased their staff by 4 thousand units, the construction sector increased by 33 thousand units. At the same time, the number of jobs in the retail sector decreased by 12 thousand. The private sector index grew by 236 thousand places. According to the April data, unemployment in the United States has fallen to a minimum level of 3.6% since 1969. Economists had expected the figure to remain at the March level of 3.8%. The average hourly wage increased by 0.2% in monthly terms and by 3.2% in annual terms.