This morning provided reassurance that the economy is finding its footing again, as employers added 223,000 jobs in April.

That’s according to Labor Department statistics released today. The headline unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent in April, from 5.5 percent in March. And the broader underemployment rate fell to 10.8 percent, from 10.9 percent in March.

Wage gains were up a tenth of a point – modest, but positive, said Bob Hughes, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. The one downside to this morning’s report was that March’s weak job gains were revised further downward, but the other data “really make March look like an outlier,” Hughes said.

“This report adds to other recent evidence that we are coming out of the soft patch,” Hughes said.