Crude oil markets recovered from midweek losses Friday to post modest gains as U.S. employment data masks a downturn in parts of the energy sector.

The price for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for oil, recovered about three-quarters of a percent to $59.41 in early Friday trading. WTI prices lost more than 2.2 percent during Thursday's session, erasing much of a rally that pushed U.S. crude above the $60 mark to start the week.

WTI started the month at $59.19.

Brent crude oil prices, which started the month around $66.16 per barrel, were relatively flat early in the Friday session to trade at $65.59. Brent started Thursday around $67 per barrel.

Oil markets are searching for momentum as world economies gain momentum, pushing the dynamics more toward the demand side.

The U.S. Labor Department said 223,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in April, pushing the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent, its lowest level since the early stages of the global recession in 2008.

Figures for March, however, were revised downward and, while some sectors continued to show gains, oil and gas drillers continued to shed jobs in the weak crude oil market.

"Mining employment fell by 15,000 in April, with job losses in support activities for mining and in oil and gas extraction," Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica Groshen said in a statement.

Oil field services company Baker Hughes said in a weekly report the number of rigs actively exploring for or producing oil and natural gas in the United States and Canada declined by a combined 27 for the week ending May 1. The number of rigs in service in the United States and Canada fell by a total of 23, or 2.2 percent, between April 17 and April 24.