US NFP: Job creation remains healthy – UOB

Senior Economist Alvin Liew at UOB Group’s Global Economics & Markets Research reviews the latest US Payrolls figures published last Friday.

Key Takeaways

“The Feb US employment gain of 678,000 and unemployment rate easing to 3.8%, both beat market expectations.”

“However, wage growth was surprisingly moderate at 0.0% m/m, 5.1% y/y despite anecdotal evidence of growing demand and persistent worker shortages.”

“The US employment gains in 2022 to date have added to labor market optimism, but the mild wage increase may be temporary and may re-accelerate due to the situation of hiring challenges and growing inflation worries in light of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.”