India, May 3 -- After reporting stronger than expected job growth over the past several months, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of April.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 175,000 jobs in April after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March.

Economists had expected employment to jump by 243,000 jobs compared to the spike of 303,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The smaller than expected increase in employment partly reflected a slowdown in the pace of job growth in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added just 5,000 jobs in April.

Meanwhile, the report continued to show st...