April nonfarm payrolls fell by a record.....>

US DATA: April nonfarm payrolls fell by a record -20.5m and the unemployment

rate plunged to 14.7% from 4.4% in March. March was revised down to -870k and

Feb down to +230k; net -214k for the previous two months. 

* The jobless rate fails to account for the true extent of unemployment as -6.4m

people dropped out of the workforce likely because they did not report looking

for a job in the current environment. The broader U-6 underemployment rate hit

22.8% vs 8.7% in March. Labor force participation rate dipped to 60.2% from

62.7%.

* AHE spiked to +4.7% from upwardly revised +0.5% March as many jobs lost were

on the low end of the payscale. 

* Employers also cut average workweek hours to 34.2, similar to 34.1 in March

* BLS altered its methodology to try to mitigate measurement errors related to

the virus. For the May survey it has added several questions to the Household

survey to further probe the extent of the impact of Covid-19 on the labor

market.