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Hiring was strong for the second straight month in April and unemployment fell to a new 50-year low, easing concerns that a slowing global and U.S. economy could dampen job growth.
Employers added a booming 263,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday, beating forecasts of 190,000. The unemployment rate fell from 3.8% to 3.6%, lowest since December 1969, but that was because nearly 500,000 Americans left the labor force, which includes people working and looking for jobs.

Another positive: Payroll gains for February and March combined were revised up by a modest 16,000.

It would be hard to ask for a more favorable report. The labor market continues to defy expectations of a slowdown amid worker shortages. And annual wage gains were solid but didn’t climb higher, providing confidence that inflation is likely to remain subdued in the near term and keep the Federal Reserve on hold.