US employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest since October, according to government data on Friday that signalled the economy's steep decline might be easing.
The unemployment rate, however, soared to 8.9%, the highest since September 1983, from 8.5% in March.
Job losses in March and February were a combined 66,000 steeper than previously estimated, the Labor Department said.
A 72,000 jump in government payrolls tempered the overall job-loss figure. Government employment was bolstered by the hiring of about 60,000 temporary workers in preparation for the 2010 Census.
Private sector employment fell by 611,000 in April after a 693,000 decline in March, the department said.
The data was not as bleak as financial markets had expected and offered the freshest sign that the intensity of the recession, now in its 17th month, was starting to fade.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the US economy has lost 5.7 million jobs, the Labor Department said.
