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Friday, April 5

5th Apr - Special: US Employment Report

Updated 9-Apr 22:30 GMT
BEFORE


March Employment Report Preview – A Dash of Insight

What to look for in Friday’s US jobs report – The A-List / FT

Employment Situation Preview – Calculated Risk
There is always some randomness to the employment report, but my guess is the BLS will report somewhat below the consensus of 193,000 jobs added in March.

Why Friday’s payrolls report may disappoint – MacroScope / Reuters
The consensus from a Reuters poll of 71 economists is for 200,000 jobs to have been created in March. The strong forecasts come on the back of the 236,000 jobs gained in February when economists had predicted only 160,000. That may be too hard to realise especially since data since then has thrown enough reasons to doubt a strong rebound.

Nonfarm payrolls preview: Disappointment lurks? – TradingFloor
The US economy has been remarkably resilient so far this year and available labour market related data eased in March, so we expect an increase of 150,000 in nonfarm payrolls.

3 Numbers to Watch: EU retail sales, US jobs and trade balance – TradingFloor


Non-Farm Payroll Preview – RanSquawk / ZH

Live From New York! It’s Jobs Friday! – WSJ

AFTER 

Employment Situation Summary – BLS

Weak job gains cast shadow on U.S. economic outlook – Reuters
American employers hired at the slowest pace in nine months in March, a sign that Washington's austerity drive could be stealing momentum from the economy.

Job Gains Slow as Unemployment Rate Falls to Four-Year Low – BB
Employers hired fewer workers than forecast in March and a slump in the size of the labor force pushed the jobless rate down to a four-year low, indicating the U.S. job market is struggling to make bigger strides.

Only 88K New Jobs, But Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.6% – dshort

Five Takeaways From Today’s Jobs Report – WSJ
Grim news all around - Trend heading in the wrong direction - Forward-looking indicators more mixed - Housing rebound continues - Tough road for the unemployed.

(audio) Analysis: Some Positive Trends in Weak Jobs Report – WSJ

Jobs Report: Winners and Losers – WSJ

Poor North American Jobs Report Sends USD and CAD Lower – Marc to Market

Nonfarm Payrolls' Growth Slows Sharply In March – The Capital Spectator

Biggest Miss Since December 2009, Participation Rate At New 30 Year Low – ZH

Market Responds To NFP - Great Rotation To Safety – ZH

People Not In Labor Force Soar By 663,000 To 90 Million, Labor Force Participation Rate At 1979 Levels – ZH

Real March Unemployment Rate: 11.6% – ZH

March Employment Report: 88,000 Jobs, 7.6% Unemployment Rate – Calculated Risk

US jobs report points to yet another spring slowdown in growth – Nordea


Today's jobs report is a disaster. But why? – Wonkblog / WP
This economy isn’t as strong as we thought it was.  What had seemed to be a nice winter acceleration in activity may be, as it has been for the last three years, undermined by a spring-summer swoon. 



Austerity bites? – Free exchange / The Economist
And to some extent, this report simply drags expectations back to where they were early in the year, when it was anticipated that fiscal policy would meaningfully slow growth in the first half of the year but allow for an improvement later on. If surprisingly good numbers led some to believe that the American economy could shake cuts off without any effect, then perhaps they were a bit overoptimistic. Hopefully just a bit.


The March jobs report, in seven charts – Wonkblog / WP

Don’t Blame Federal Budget Cuts for Weak Jobs, Yet – WSJ


US Payrolls miss big time – TradingFloor

Juhani Huopainen: There is no doubt that Nonfarm payrolls in March were terrible, though revisions to previous months were positive. The pattern is just like in previous years, with negative surprises coming soon after the new year.


Flash Comment US: labour market tanks – Danske Bank (pdf)



Jobs Report Reinforces Fed Wariness About Premature End to QE3 – WSJ



Jobs +88k, Unemployment Rate 7.6%, Household Survey Employment Drops by 206k – Mish’s



US Payroll Job Growth Slows; Unemployment Rate Drops as Labor Force Shrinks – EconoMonitor
 


Jobs Report: The Wonks Really Blew This One – WSJ
Economists expected 200,000 jobs were added last month. The actual number came in at 88,000, making the divergence the biggest jobs miss since June 2011.

Labor Market Hits Air Pocket – Tim Duy’s Fed Watch
Another in a long line of employment reports that suggests the much hoped-for acceleration in job growth remains out of reach.  Nothing to suggest the Federal Reserve needs to slow the pace of asset purchases in the near future.  Williams' expectation that tapering off of purchases as early as this summer remains puzzling.


Employment Report Comments and more Graphs – Calculated Risk

Overall this was a weak report, but there were a few positives including the upward revisions to the January and February reports, the decline in the long term unemployed, and the decline in part time workers to list a few.



Labor Market Update: Muddy Waters Continue to Run Deep – Atlanta Fed Macro Blog



U.S. Employment Situation – March 2013 – Global Macro Monitor

Non-farm payrolls up 88,000 in March; much weaker than expected – Handelsbanken
 

BLS Jobs Report Covering March 2013: Blah Trend Numbers but Some Seasonal Strength Although Not As Good As Previous Years – Corrente
  

Number of the Week: Youth Unemployment at 22.9%? – WSJ

The unemployment rate for Americans under age 25, adjusting for the decline in the labor force since the start of the recession.



The March jobs report shows continued slow growth, bought at great cost – Fabius Maximus
The news media focuses on the month-to-month changes in the jobs report, which consist mostly of noise. Strong months confirm the optimists; weak months confirm the pessimists. The trend of growth remains the real story, with the US economy near stall speed — supported only (like the other developed nations) by massive multi-year fiscal and monetary stimulus. Slow growth bought at great cost. A cost we cannot long continue to pay, borrowing and squandering the money ($ which instead could be rebuilding America). Just like Japan since 1989.
 
Graphs for Construction Employment, Duration of Unemployment, Unemployment by Education and Diffusion Indexes – Calculated Risk
  

US Employment (Excerpt) – Dr Ed’s Blog

I wasn’t disappointed by Friday’s employment report because I don’t pay all that much attention to the preliminary payroll estimate for the latest month, which was only 88,000 for March. Rather, I give much more weight to the regular revisions in the previous two months' payrolls, which were both increased by a total of 61,000 for January and February.
  

Charts du jour, labour force participation kill the old edition – alphaville / FT

Structural Employment Problems – Big Picture

Weak Jobs Report Is Sign of Weak Jobs Report. Period. – View / BB

Vanishing workforce weighs on growth – WP



Handicapping Labor Data – Tim Duy’s Fed Watch
I had expected that the data flow would argue for the Fed to postpone tapering off QE purchases until late this year.  The Fed seems to have a different view, thinking that the data flow argues for ending QE by the end of this year.  My expectation is that the Fed is being overly optimistic and will find that summer is too early to being tapering off QE.  That seems to be the message from the bond market as well; yields aren't exactly soaring.

Job Openings and Nonfarm Payrolls – Calculated Risk
…it appears job openings leads non-farm payroll at turning points.