Payrolls report Friday likely to show a jobs market that is still hot – By Jeff Cox (CNBC) / July 6, 2023
- Payrolls have been growing by hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, totaling nearly 1.6 million in the first five months of 2023 alone.
- The consensus estimate is that payrolls rose by another 240,000 in June, and the unemployment rate is projected to nudge lower to 3.6%.
- The market will be parsing Friday’s report for additional points that will inform Fed policy. One key will be wages.
The U.S. jobs market is still on fire, no matter how much effort policymakers put into cooling it off.
Despite a series of interest rate hikes aimed specifically at fixing an imbalance between company demand and the supply of workers, payrolls have been growing by hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, totaling nearly 1.6 million in the first five months of 2023 alone.
A Labor Department report Friday is expected to show that the trend continued through June. The Dow Jones consensus estimate is that payrolls rose by another 240,000, and the unemployment rate is projected to nudge lower to 3.6%.
Those waiting for the jobs picture to deteriorate, then, are going to have to continue to be patient.
