Here’s a quickie from the Wall Street Journal on what to watch for in the June nonfarm payroll report due later today in the US (don’t forget to get your entry in for the competition).
1. June could mark the first five-month stretch of job creation in excess of 200,000 since the boom years of the late 1990s.
2. More than 40% of the jobs added in the past year have come in food service, retail and temporary help, and most economists expect that trend continued last month.
3. Factories and Builders Still Trailing. Economists expect hiring in manufacturing and construction, which began to soften even before the recession, continued to lag the overall jobs recovery in July.
4. Still Plenty of Slack. For many economists the unemployment rate overstates the health of the labor market, partly because many of the unemployed have given up their job searches.
5. Waiting for Wage Growth. An abundant supply of idle workers has kept wage pressures subdued throughout the recovery, and that probably didn’t change last month.
