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Concerns about a slowdown 'premature' -- jobs report reactions

MARKETWATCH 9:40 AM ET 7/7/2017

Wage growth debate continues after nonfarm payrolls report

Here are reactions to the Labor Department's report showing 222,000 jobs created in June and an unemployment rate of 4.4%.

Read: U.S. adds 222,000 jobs in June as hiring surges (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-adds-222000-jobs-in-june- as-hiring-surges-2017-07-07)

"June job gains bounced back to 222,000 net jobs added and revisions pushed previous readings for April and May higher by 47,000 jobs, which signals that the apparent weakness in past months was just a blip due in part to late data reporting. While the unemployment rate notched up slightly, to 4.4%, the size of the labor force ticked up and other measures of labor market health are good." -- Danielle Hale, managing director of housing research at the National Association of Realtors.

"The strong job growth in June and the upward revisions for May and April suggest that the concerns about a major slowdown in job growth were premature. If monthly employment growth remains at the 150,000-200,000 range, the labor market will continue to rapidly tighten, given the slow growth in labor supply. Wage growth may resume accelerating later in the year." -- Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America for The Conference Board.

"The data don't change our forecast for the Fed to start balance sheet normalization in September, followed by another rate hike in December. Two more employment reports will be released before the September FOMC meeting -- and five before December." -- Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

"June has historically seen relatively strong employment gains, as recent college grads land their first jobs. In contrast to many of their older siblings who graduated into the Great Recession a decade ago, much of the class of 2017 likely already had jobs lined up well before graduation, and are starting to collect their first paychecks." -- Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow.

"Economists have been long expecting stronger wage gains to emerge as the pool of unemployed dissipates and the competition for skilled labor heats up. That component of the labor market recovery has proven to be elusive, but there are still signs of gradual improvement there as well. Average hourly earnings increased by 2.5% over the past twelve months, while average weekly earnings were boosted by 2.8% on a slight uptick in average hours worked. Against the backdrop of very low inflation, wage growth has been positive, but still appears to have room for further improvement." -- Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

"At the current rate of growth, it is clear that employers need to do little to attract and retain the workers they want and any significant signs of labor shortages are simply not showing up in the data. At 2.5% wage growth, the Federal Reserve should get the message that there is still no worrying sign of inflationary pressure from wage growth and they should continue to let the economy recover." -- Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute.

-Steve Goldstein; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]

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Though unemployment is still below the Fed's "natural rate" estimate, inflation remains below their target & wage growth isn't accelerating. pic.twitter.com/fD5EA8bBXt

— Ben Spielberg (@BenSpielberg) July 7, 2017

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-07-170940ET
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