U.S. employers resumed steady hiring last month and the jobless rate fell, a sign of the economy snapping back from a brutal winter. Nonfarm payrolls grew a seasonally adjusted 223,000 in April, the Labor Department said. Hiring had slowed sharply in March, to a gain of 85,000, revised from an initial report of 126,000. The unemployment rate, drawn from a separate survey of households, fell a 10th of a point in April to 5.4%, the lowest level in almost seven years and closer to the Federal Reserve’s expectation of “full” employment, which it pegs between 5% and 5.2%.

Americans stepped up borrowing in March, a sign consumer spending is rebounding after a slow start to the year.

Tax receipts surged in April to generate the largest monthly U.S. budget surplus in seven years, the latest sign that climbing stock values, hefty corporate profits and rising incomes for wealthier Americans are improving the nation’s budget picture.