The hot US job market may be a few degrees cooler than previously thought.
The number of non-farm payrolls in the United States decreased by 306,000 jobs in March than initially reported, according to… revised data It was released by the Labor Department on Wednesday. This indicates that employers added jobs at a slightly slower rate in 2022 and early 2023 than suggested monthly data in time – but is less accurate.
The revisions, which are preliminary, don’t change the big picture: Job growth has slowed since the first wave of post-lockdown reopenings, but has remained surprisingly resilient. Even after the latest revision, there were 2.8 million more jobs in March than there were before the pandemic began. (Employers have added another 870,000 jobs since then, according to the Labor Department, although those numbers, too, will eventually be subject to review.)
The data released on Wednesday is part of an annual process in which the monthly estimates, which are based on a survey of employers, are aligned with more specific data from state unemployment insurance records. The reviews will be formally incorporated into government figures early next year.
The recent strength in the labor market came as a surprise to economists, who expected a rapid increase in interest rates to lead to a further slowdown in hiring. Some forecasters believed that the monthly jobs numbers were overstating hiring, and that the annual update would show a significant downward revision.
That didn’t happen: the Labor Department cut its employment estimate by just 0.2% In line with historical reviews.
The revisions were larger for some industries. Employment in the transportation and warehousing sector, which boomed during the pandemic but has slowed since then, was revised down by about 150,000 jobs, or 2.2 percent. Administrative industries such as information and professional services also added fewer jobs than initially reported. On the other hand, retail and wholesale firms hired more workers than the suggested monthly figures, as did public sector employers.
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