A slowdown in nonfarm payroll hiring, seen as one of the best indicators of economic vitality, had been expected but the strength of the deceleration caught economists off guard. Most analysts had forecast April growth of at least 100,000 new positions.

The national unemployment rate ticked up to 4.5 percent, in line with most forecasts, from 4.4 percent a month earlier, the Labor Department said.

"Today's employment report for April gave a hint that the labor market may be starting to soften," said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at Global Insight.

The labor snapshot comes days before the Federal Reserve is due to meet May 9 to mull US interest rates, but several economists said they still expect the Fed to keep rates unchanged next week.

The Fed's fed funds short-term interest rate has been anchored at 5.25 percent since June.

The sharp slowdown in employment growth was fairly widespread as the retail sector shed 26,000 posts, manufacturing firms trimmed 19,000 and the construction industry lost 11,000.

Auto manufacturers and home builders are two industries that have announced job cutbacks in recent months.

"The report was disappointing not only for the lack of job gains, but also for where the weaknesses were, in particular the retail sector was weak, perhaps suggesting that US consumers are pulling back a little bit, and that will have implications for growth going forward," observed Drew Matus, an economist at Lehman Brothers.

American consumers, renowned as shoppers, have shown signs of tightening their belts of late amid a housing market slump and high gasoline prices.