Meanwhile, the US unemployment rate is 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected an unchanged value. As expected, wages increased by 0.3 percent. Compared to the same month last year, hourly wages increased by 4.2 percent. Here 4.3 percent had been expected.
Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far, they’ve kept the US economy out of a widely predicted recession. The labor market has repeatedly shown itself to be robust recently. Many companies even complain about a labor shortage.
The strong development makes it more difficult for the US Federal Reserve to fight high inflation. There is still uncertainty on the financial markets as to whether the Fed will raise the key interest rate again by 0.25 percentage points in May.
Editorial office finanzen.net / dpa-AFX
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