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Silver Linings in the US Jobs Report

Published on10 APR 2017

Though the March US jobs report was "moderately disappointing" – with only 98K jobs added versus consensus expectations of 180K and a prior month gain of about 220K – Goldman Sachs Research's Zach Pandl says there's more than one silver lining underpinning the data. "When you look over the last three months as a whole, you're still adding about 178,000 jobs. That's well above-trend... if some deceleration from the last two months," he says. Additionally, the March report showed signs that labor market slack continues to tighten, with the unemployment rate falling to 2007 lows and fewer people reporting they're only able to find part-time work. Goldman Sachs Research has increased its subjective probability of a June interest rate hike to 70%, versus 60% prior.

Zach Pandl
Co-Head, Global Foreign Exchange and Emerging Markets Strategy, Global Investment Research, Goldman Sachs