The Department of Labor just released the April jobs report which was up 244,000 vs. the 185,000 expected number which is the most since December of 2006 and the unemployment rate moved up to 9% which is a good thing as it means that discouraged workers have re-entered the job market looking for employment. The unemployment rate had ticked down to 8.8% last month because many people had taken themselves out of the job market as they had become too discouraged to look for a job. Every aspect of this jobs report was good, hourly earnings increased by 0.3% vs. 0.2%, private sector job growth was 268k vs. 200k and February’s number was revised substantially higher from 68k to 235k. March also was revised for the better to 221k from prior 198k. Positive revisions for the better indicate an even better hiring environment. The only negative and I am picking nits here by even mentioning it is the work week was 33.6 vs. an expected 34.3 hours. What this all means is that employers continued to hire as they were paying existing employees more and this bodes well for consumer spending and GDP as we are a consumer driven economy. In reaction to the data, the stock markets is moving substantially higher, bonds are selling off and the US dollar is selling off as well, this is a classic risk on trade as a result of a very good jobs number.
No comments:
Post a Comment