The tenth of a percentage point decline in the unemployment rate in April pushed it down to 4.4%, the lowest level in almost a decade.
In May 2007, it was also 4.4%, and the rate hasn’t been lower than that since May 2001.
The rate fell last month because the number of employed Americans grew faster than growth in the labor force.
On its own, the rate suggests that the U.S. is at or near what economists consider the “maximum” level of employment–or a healthy level of growth that won’t stoke a surge in wage inflation.
The Fed projects that unemployment over the long run will average 4.7% to 5%.