The US Employment report turned out to be even better than we speculated this morning though some revisions to November balance it out somewhat. Nonfarm Payrolls rose 200K while the Unemployment Rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5% due mostly to employment (+176K as detailed below) as the Particpation Rate held steady at 64%.
Overview for December (November):
Nonfarm Payrolls at 200K vs. 155K expected and 100K prior.
Private Payrolls at 212K vs. 178K expected and 120K prior.
Manufacturing Payrolls at 23 vs. 6K expected and 1K prior.
Unemployment Rate at 8.5% vs. 8.7% expected and 8.7% prior (lowest rate since February 2009).
Participation Rate at 64% vs. 64% prior.
Average Hourly Earnings at 0.2% vs. 0.2% expected and 0% prior.
Average Weekly Hours at 34.4 vs. 34.3 expected and 34.3 prior.
Change in Household Survey Employment at 176K vs. 317KK prior.
All in all, a better than expected report, which showed strength in both surveys. In the Establishment Survey Nonfarm Payrolls printed 200K while in the Household Survey the Unemployment Rate dropped to 8.5% and the Change in Employment increase 176K. The latter has increased 1.456 million in the second half of 2011.
Mads Koefoed
SAXO BANK