US labour market – weaker than headline data indicates

The latest US – Employment Situation Summary – for March 2015, was released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last Friday (April 3, 2015). The growth in employment was disappointing to say the least. The Bloomberg survey of economists came up with an median estimate of 247,000 (net) jobs would be created in March. The data shows only 126,000 would be created. The closest forecast in the Survey was 200,000. The data is consistent with other negative data published in the last week (for example, the ADP National Employment Report. Most of the commentators focused on the fact that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.5 per cent. This was taken as an indicator that the US labour market was still relatively strong. But closer analysis provides quite a different view of the state of the US employment situation.

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