"Slowing Job Growth Is Welcome"... Victory in the War Against US Inflation

Slower than the past two months, 310,000 increase in February
Unemployment rate lower than previous month (3.6%)

The overheated labor market, which was considered a major factor in U.S. inflation, has entered a cooling phase. With interest rate hikes continuing over the past year, the labor market is moving past the overheated stage and finding stability.

On the 7th (local time), the U.S. Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 236,000 in March. This figure fell short of the Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal (WSJ) forecast of 238,000.

While job growth exceeded market expectations for two consecutive months, with 311,000 jobs added in February, the March data suggests a cooling of the labor market heat. This confirms the effect of interest rate hikes on the labor market.

The March job growth rate is the lowest since December 2020. Over the past 12 months, the labor market has seen a net increase of 4.1 million jobs, with an average monthly increase of 345,417 jobs.

The unemployment rate in March was recorded at 3.5%, slightly lower than February's 3.6%. This also came in below experts' expectations of 3.6%. As the labor market cools, the average hourly wage growth has also slowed. The year-over-year increase in average hourly wages for March was 4.2%, down from 4.6% in February. Wage growth had surged to as high as 5% in November last year. The lower figure in March indicates that even as jobs increase, wage growth is slowing, which is evidence that monetary policy is having an effect.

The New York Times (NYT) described the slowdown in average hourly wage growth last month as "welcome news for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), which is fighting a 'war against inflation.'"