Wage Growth a Worry
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000 in April, below consensus. Goldman Sachs estimated payroll growth to be 125,000, while other forecasts were for job growth around 165,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 8.1% from 8.2% as the labor force shrank. And the household survey showed the number of employed people fell by 169,000, though this is a small sample size with a large margin of error.
What's very disappointing is the lack of wage growth. In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by a penny to $23.38. But this likely also relates to the increased hiring in low-wage jobs, not necessarily that all workers are receiving virtually no wage increases. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.8%. The consumer price index will be released on May 15, when we'll find out the real earnings growth statistics when these figures are adjusted for inflation. In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 3 cents to $19.72....264 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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