The US economy added 160,000 jobs in April, according to today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor—making April the weakest hiring month since September 2015.
The numbers put average jobs gains at 192,000/month for 2016, slower than the average 229,000 jobs added monthly in 2015.
The low April stats fly in the face of Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal surveys of top economists who on average expected 200,000 and 205,000 jobs added, respectively.
Georgia State University Economic Forecasting Center head Rajeev Dhawan tells Bisnow, though the overall numbers aren't so hot, the numbers look pretty good when it comes to business hiring.
“The corporate sector added very nice jobs, especially in the technology area, and even manufacturing added some jobs,” Rajeev tells us.
And, despite the overall hiring downturn, Americans saw a 0.3% lift in wages—around 8 cents—making the total wage gain for the last 12 months around 2.5%, higher than the wage gains from March.
April’s jobs report weighs heavy on the Fed’s next meeting, in June, at which Rajeev says an interest rate hike is unlikely.
“Of course, the $60k question is, ‘Will the Fed move in June?’ and the answer is, they probably won’t,” Rajeev tells us. “Unless they have one more thing—by the time they meet in June the stock market would have to do very well.”
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