Payroll Report; The State of Slowing Or Not Slowing

The payroll report for June 2017 was the first ‘good’ one in some time. There are now a few indications that the ‘reflation’ in the economy may be finally having positive effects on the labor market. The headline Establishment Survey gain was relatively solid at 222k, though it was above 200k for just the fourth time in the last nine months. The 6-month average, however, is still just 180k, much closer to 2012 levels than 2014.
Maybe the best sign of delayed improvement was in average weekly hours. The estimate was revised higher for April to 34.5 per week, with hours in June matching that level. Those were the best figures since the beginning of 2016.

This post was published at Wall Street Examiner by Jeffrey P. Snider ‘ July 7, 2017.