Highlights of the May 2018 US jobs report
- Prior was +164K (revised to 159K)
- Two month net revision +15K
- Private payrolls +218K vs +190K expected
- Prior private payrolls 168K (revised to 162K)
- Manufacturing +18K vs +20K exp
- Unemployment rate 3.8% vs 3.9% expected
- Prior unemployment rate 3.9%
- Underemployment rate 7.6% vs 7.8% prior -- lowest since 2001
- Participation rate 62.7% vs 62.8% prior
Wages:
- Average hourly earnings +0.3% vs +0.2% m/m expected
- Average hourly earnings y/y 2.7% vs 2.6% expected
- Avg weekly hours 34.5 vs 34.5 exp
This is an excellent report all around with the headline, wages and unemployment all better than expected. It's almost as if someone tipped off a good report ahead of time.
Someone points out that the 'expectation' on the y/y wage growth number wasn't a total consensus. Reuters had it at 2.7% but they did have the m/m at 0.2%. So call it a beat, but maybe not quite as much.
In any case, some 'sell-the-fact' is hitting because Trump frontran the headlines.
