Ahead of the US employment statistics, most economists expected recent facts signaling a slowdown of economic growth to be short-lived. For example, severe weather made its adverse impact. However, the reports for March made experts raise eyebrows wondering if the US economy is losing momentum, or on the contrary, getting ready to leap in spring.
The unemployment rate has been revised downwards for the recent two months including March. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on 126,000 new jobs in March. So, the nonfarm payroll report falls into line with a series of the other tepid data such as the US retail sales, business investments, export sales, industrial output, and consumer spending.
US economic growth in Q1is expected to slow down to 1.6%. Despite this flash estimate, analysts hope that high employment growth in 2014 created solid grounds for robust expansion of businesses in the near future.
Indeed, people are more confident about their future with easier opportunities to find a job. A lot of large companies are raising wages to low-paid employees that is another sign of the stronger labor market.
However, economists expressing the pessimistic stance are not so numerous. From their viewpoint, there are no reasons that the US economy is capable to move into high gear. Besides, analysts doubt that harsh weather conditions could actually cause the economy to worsen. They think cold winter is not a good excuse to account for the economic decline in Q1.
The US energy producers and export-focused companies have been badly affected by the swelling value of the US dollar and tumbling global oil prices. However, the US Federal Reserve has grounds to maintain the key interest rate close to zero until late summer and perhaps the end of 2015.
