NFP: Pace of job growth to gradually decelerate - Wells Fargo

Analysts at Wells Fargo, suspect that the US economy added 180K jobs in May. The NFP will be released on Friday.

Key Quotes:

“Nonfarm employment rose by a disappointing 164,000 in April to start the second quarter, but the unemployment rate still fell to 3.9 percent. Job gains remained broad-based with the exception of wholesale trade and government. The focus remains on average hourly earnings for signs of inflation pressures.”

“For May’s nonfarm print we suspect that 180,000 jobs were added for the month, and the unemployment rate is likely to remain stable at 3.9 percent. We expect the pace of job growth to gradually decelerate as the year progresses and the labor market continues to tighten.”

“After averaging 212,000 jobs per month in the first quarter, we see the pace of job gains downshifting to around 170,000 in the second and third quarters. Another byproduct of the tighter labor market conditions should be higher average hourly earnings in the coming months.”