The statewide unemployment rate climbed again in April to 4.6%, slightly widening the gap with the national joblessness rate, labor officials said.

Citing federal data, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced that unemployment in Massachusetts rose two-tenths of a percentage point from March to April. The national unemployment rate remained level at 4.2% in that span.

It was the fourth straight month that both the labor force and the unemployment rate grew. Compared to April 2024, the labor force included about 52,000 more people and the unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points higher.

Employers also added about 7,700 jobs in April, according to results of a different monthly labor survey, building on the 2,800 positions added in March.

Department of Economic Research Chief Economist Mark Rembert said Friday that the job market remained stable “despite economic headwinds.”

“The unemployment rate edged up, but most significantly, we haven’t seen an uptick in layoffs or new unemployment claims, meaning the uptick is being driven by more people entering the workforce and looking for work,” Rembert said in a statement.

While employment is relatively stable, many businesses have voiced low confidence in the local economic outlook amid uncertainty about federal spending and tariffs. Economists have also forecast sluggish growth in Massachusetts.

Earlier this month, federal economists reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate held at a historically healthy 4.2%.

Many economists still anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers.

Last Tuesday, Microsoft began laying off about 6,000 workers, nearly 3% of its workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years as the company spends heavily on artificial intelligence.

Other companies that have announced job cuts this year include Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent company Meta.

The Labor Department’s most recent  said that the four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 3,250 to 230,500.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of May 3 rose by 9,000 to 1.88 million.

— Material from Associated Press used in this report