U.S. hiring stays robust as jobless rate falls, wages pick up
BNN Bloomberg
The U.S. added close to half a million jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell by more than expected, highlighting a robust labor market that’s likely to support aggressive Federal Reserve tightening in the coming months.
The U.S. added close to half a million jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell by more than expected, highlighting a robust labor market that’s likely to support aggressive Federal Reserve tightening in the coming months.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 431,000 last month after an upwardly revised 750,000 gain in February, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6 per cent, near its pre-pandemic low, and the labor force participation rate ticked up. Wage gains accelerated.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 490,000 advance in payrolls and for the unemployment rate to fall to 3.7 per cent.
Shorter-term Treasury yields rose and the dollar strengthened after the release on expectations that the data will bolster more hawkish Fed policy. The S&P 500 opened higher.
“This is an economy and labor markets overheating, the Fed has to accelerate” its tightening, Jeffrey Rosenberg, senior portfolio manager for systematic multi-strategy at BlackRock Inc., said on Bloomberg Television.
