Payroll gains remain positive
But the trend is slowing
Another batch of jobs data just came in. It shows continued gains in the labor market but at a slowing pace:
One thing to keep in mind is that, despite all of the post-pandemic gains, the labor market remains well below the pre-pandemic trend:
Tomorrow, we will sift through even more jobs data when the official unemployment rate numbers hit!
In the final chart, employment growth is below pre-covid trend but the total is above pre-covid peak. I think that is pretty impressive given the impact of trends coming out of covid like early retirement. It will be interesting to see if this number continues to grow at a slower rate than pre-covid or stagnates as demand softens and wage inflation forces more automation.