Toucan

Fears of a US recession have been staved off for another month as government figures show the unemployment rate was little changed over the month at five per cent.

The data show despite the loss of 20,000 jobs, the number of unemployed people - 7.6 million - was lower than March's figure of 7.8 million, when unemployment stood at 5.1 per cent.

Forecasts of the job losses figure were as high as 80,000 before the announcement, according to a Reuters poll.

Employment continued to decline in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade, while jobs were added in health care and in professional and technical services, the US department of labor said.

The construction industry is struggling as the US housing market stalls, according to the data. In April, employment in construction declined by 61,000, with losses continuing throughout most of the sector.

Since its peak in September 2006, construction employment has fallen by 457,000.

In April, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons increased by 306,000 to 5.2 million - 849,000 higher than in April 2007.

These individuals said they were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job, the report said, indicating employers are keeping down costs.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates again to two per cent, in a bid to avoid recession.

The cut was the seventh since September, and the stable job data for April may mean that it is the last reduction for a while.

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