US Jobs Preview: Wages to tick higher in March - Barclays

Analysts at Barclays released their preview of the March US labor market report due on the cards this Friday at 1230 GMT.

Key Quotes:

“We look for another month of solid employment at 200k jobs gained, though this would represent a deceleration from February. The February employment report was released on March 9, five weeks after the January employment report was released on February 2.

This may have accounted for some of the outsized performance in February, whereas the March employment report is released only four months after the February report.

In addition, we think concerns about antitrade policies and regulatory concerns in the tech sector may subdue hiring relative to February. Elsewhere, we look for the unemployment rate to decline one-tenth, to 4.0%; average hourly earnings to rise 0.2% m/m and 2.8% y/y; and hours to remain steady at 34.5.”