The March jobs report on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate falling to 3.5% from 3.6%.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected that 238,000 jobs would be added and that unemployment would remain at 3.6%.
See: Jobs report shows 236,000 increase in employment in March
Here are some initial reactions from economists and other analysts, as U.S. stock futures
ES00,
+0.24%
YM00,
+0.19%
turned higher following the data on nonfarm payrolls. U.S. stock exchanges are closed for the Good Friday holiday.
• “The Fed will take a little comfort from decelerating employment in the past two months and some easing in wage growth, but the low unemployment rate and continued above-normal pace of job growth likely tips the scales toward another rate hike in May.” — Andrew Hunter, deputy chief U.S. economist at Capitol Economics, in a note
• “The 236,000 gain in non-farm payrolls in March adds to the evidence that the economy’s strong start to the year was partly a weather-related blip, with momentum now fading again. With the sharp fall in job openings and upward trend in jobless claims also pointing to a cooling in labor demand, and the drag from the recent banking turmoil still to feed through, we expect employment growth to slow more sharply soon. … Overall, the report is a mixed bag as far as the May [Federal Open Market Committee] meeting goes and the decision is likely to come down to the data next week, most notably the March [consumer-price index] report. Whether or not the Fed squeezes in a final 25[-basis-point] rate hike next month, we still think they will be cutting again later this year as the economy falls into recession.” — Andrew Hunter, deputy chief U.S. economist at Capitol Economics, in a note
• “Overall, the data shows that the labor market continued to chug along in March, and it is another reminder that it will take some time before we see the impact of the stress in the banking sector on the economy.” — Thomas Simons, U.S. economist at Jefferies, in a note
• “Hiring cooled in the U.S. in March, but the labor market remained strong enough to justify a final quarter point rate hike from the Fed in May.” — Katherine Judge, senior economist at CIBC, in a note
• “The labor market is still speeding along, even if it’s slowing a bit. A sustainable slowdown so far. … Pulling off a soft landing is still going to be difficult, but the initial descent is going well so far.” — Nick Bunker, economic research director for Indeed, in tweets
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