UPDATE - US adds 175,000 jobs in April, less than 238,000 estimates

UPDATES WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S COMMENTS

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 175,000 jobs in April, much less than market estimates, the Labor Department said on Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was to show a gain of 238,000 last month.

Job additions for March, on the other hand, were revised up by 12,000, from 303,000 to 315,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.9% in April from 3.8% in March.

The market estimate for the figure was to come in at 3.8%.

The number of unemployed people stood at 6.5 million in April, while the labor force participation rate was at 62.7%, according to the Labor Department.

"I had a plan to turn our country around and build our economy from the middle out and the bottom up," President Joe Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

"Now we are seeing that plan in action, with well over 15 million jobs created since I took office, working-age women employed at a record high rate, wages rising faster than prices, and unemployment below 4 percent for a record 27 months in a row," he added.

Biden said he also plans to lower the cost of rent and homeownership by building 2 million homes in the US, to cut taxes for middle-class families and workers; and to continue making health care, prescription drugs, inhalers, and insulin more affordable.