Briefing.com: Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 01-Jun-18 09:27 ET

May Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 01-Jun-18 09:27 ET

Highlights

The employment report for May fits within the context of a strengthening economy and it fits within the Federal Reserve's context of seeing an improving economy that validates further gradual increases in the fed funds rate.

Key Factors

May nonfarm payrolls increased by 223,000 (Briefing.com consensus 190,000). Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 179,000 per month. April nonfarm payrolls revised to 159,000 from 164,000. March nonfarm payrolls revised to 155,000 from 135,000.
May private sector payrolls increased by 218,000 (Briefing.com consensus 177,000). April private sector payrolls revised to 162,000 from 168,000. March private sector payrolls revised to 153,000 from 135,000.
May unemployment rate was 3.8% (Briefing.com consensus 3.9%) versus 3.9% in April. Persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 19.4% of the unemployed versus 20.0% in April . The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for unemployed and underemployed workers, was 7.6%, versus 7.8% in April.
May average hourly earnings were up 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%), after increasing 0.1% in April. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.7%, versus 2.6% for the 12 months ending in April.
The average workweek in May was 34.5 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.5) versus 34.5 hours in April. May Manufacturing workweek decreased 0.2 hours to 40.8 hours. Factory overtime decreased 0.2 hours to 3.5 hours.
The labor force participation rate was 62.7% in May, versus 62.8% in April

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the May employment report is that it still had a Goldilocks hue to it, having been accented with strong job growth and only moderate wage inflation.