Economy
April 6, 2015
Job Gains Slipping Away
Written by Peter Wright
The Bureau of labor Statistics, (BLS) reported on Friday: “Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 126,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5 percent. Employment continued to trend up in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade, while mining lost jobs. The change in total non-farm payroll employment for January was revised from +239,000 to +201,000, and the change for February was revised from +295,000 to +264,000. With these revisions, employment gains in January and February combined were 69,000 less than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 197,000 per month.”
SMU Analysis: The three month moving average (3MMA) of gains through March at 197,000, was down from 265,000 in February. The 3MMA in December was 324,000 the highest since May 2000, (Figure 1).
