Unemployment in the U.S. fell in April, hitting a near seven-year low following weak job additions in the first quarter of the year.

A Labor Department report shows 223,000 non-farm jobs were added last month, very close to what many analysts were expecting.

This follows a downwardly revised gain of just 85,000 from 126,000 in March, the first below 100,000 reading since June 2012. February’s level was pushed higher slightly to 266,000 additions.

In April, employment increased in professional and business services, health care, and construction, while employment in mining continued to decline.

This April performance also moved the unemployment rate down from 5.5% last month to 5.4% in April, its lowest level since May 2008.

Over the past year, the unemployment rate is down by 0.8 of a percentage point and the number of unemployed persons is down by 1.1 million, respectively. On a three-month average, monthly job gains remain below 200,000 after falling in March. 

For-hire trucking added 1,900 jobs in April after more than 6,000 were lost in March, while the wider transportation and warehousing sector recorded an increase of 15,200 jobs last month following a gain of 9,500 in March.

Overall, the report was characterized by Sterne Agee Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza “for lack of a better word, so-so.”

“For the glass half full camp, the organic decline in the unemployment rate is a welcome improvement. Countless months we have seen the unemployment rate decline because of labor force dropouts,” she said. “In April, however, not only did the participation rate rise, but employment rose more, pushing the unemployment rate down to a seven-year low.”

According to Piegza, the overriding theme of April’s report was that it's a slight step in the right direction from March, but still a large step in the wrong direction from the hiring pace at the end of last year.

“From the Federal Reserve’s perspective, this is not what we call a game changing report. Despite further improvement in the unemployment rate, headline hiring remains modest, certainly not the type of clear, undeniable, sustained strength needed to justify a change in policy [including hiking interest rates],” she said. “Coupled with a 0.2% rise in the first quarter GDP, the Fed appears comfortably seated on the sidelines.”