Jobs Data Disappoint

| 4 June 2010 08:46

The US employment data was disappointing.  The key measure of private sector job creation was only 41k compared with expectations for 180k and a 3 month moving average of 155.6k.  The fact that the unemployment rate ticked down is not really good news as the decline in unemployment was not a function of more jobs but a reflection of people leaving the work force.

There were two bright spots though that should not be discounted.  The first is the hourly earnings rose 0.3%.  This bodes well for income and therefore consumption.  Also the work week increased by 0.1 which is roughly the equivalent in terms of output of a bit more than 300k workers.

The foreign exchange market is driven by European events today and there seems to have been only a modest reaction to the general disappointment with the US employment report.  There has also been a bit of a clarification of the French PM comments.  To be filled under lost in translation–the word parity and the French word for level sound similar (to the Anglo-American ear) and news wires  have corrected it.

avatar About Marc Chandler

Marc Chandler joined Brown Brothers Harriman in October 2005 as the global head of currency strategy. Previously he was the chief currency strategist for HSBC Bank USA and Mellon Bank. In addition to frequently providing insight into the developments of the day to newspapers and news wires, Chandler's essays have been published in the Financial Times, Barron's, Euromoney, Corporate Finance, and Foreign Affairs. Marc appears often on business television and is a regular guest on CNBC.

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