It’s an unexpected rebound. Job creations in the United States are again on the rise and unemployment fell in April, according to figures from the Department of Labor published on Friday.
The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Friday, positively surprised by the resilience of employment and still vigorous activity despite the threat of recession. Around 3:50 p.m. Paris time, the Dow Jones took 1.33%, the Nasdaq index 1.21% and the S&P 500 took 1.20%, after four consecutive sessions of decline in the three indices.
In April, 253,000 jobs were created, after 165,000 in March. Unemployment fell to 3.4%, down -0.1 point. Analysts’ expectations are thus largely exceeded, when they predicted 180,000 job creations and an unemployment rate of 3.6%. Employment is growing in both business services, health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, said the statement from the Department of Labor.
Incompatible with lower inflation
These data do not fit well with the inflation reduction objective of the government and especially of the Federal Reserve. A decline in job creation and a subsequent rise in the unemployment rate are in fact inevitable to cool economic activity and contain inflation, which is still being driven up by strong wage growth against a backdrop of labor shortages. work. Wages rose again in April, an average of 4.4% for hourly wages over one year against 4.6% last month.
« Data shows the labor market remains tight and the economy continues to add jobs at a rapid pace observes Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist at HFE. The private job creation figures, published on Wednesday, nevertheless revealed the powerful dynamics of the job market, with 296,000 jobs created in companies in April against 142,000 in March.
The Fed, attentive to employment
This growth raises questions about the effectiveness of the monetary tightening initiated by the American central bank (Fed), which has set itself the objective of bringing annual inflation down to 2% against 5% in March. That is an increase in prices unprecedented in 40 years. For a year, it has constantly raised its key rates, so that the banks, in turn, raise the cost of loans and dissuade households and businesses from borrowing.
On Wednesday, the Fed raised its rates once again during its monetary policy meeting, for the tenth time in a row. ” We see some evidence of easing labor market conditions. But, overall, you have an unemployment rate at the lowest in 50 years (…) Labor demand still far outstrips the supply of available workers “, explained its president Jerome Powell on Wednesday to justify his rate hike.
2023-05-05 14:07:00
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