April’s big jobs miss explained and what it means for the U.S. economic outlook

The stunningly disappointing April jobs report shouldn’t be taken as an indictment against the fast-moving economic recovery but shouldn’t be dismissed as merely a one-month blip either, according to Wall Street economists and market experts.

A confluence of factors helped explain the weak Labor Department count that showed nonfarm payrolls grew by just 266,000 in a month that forecasters had expected to see 1 million.

Among them: low labor supply caused by a lack of qualified workers, reluctance of some to go back to work because of Covid-related fears and...