Good morning. It’s payrolls day and the debate is whether the US jobs market is as strong as Powell says. Plus, Meta and Amazon’s belt-tightening pays off and Apple trips up in China. Here’s what people are talking about. — Sofia Horta e Costa
The monthly US payrolls report is due at 8:30 a.m. New York time. ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson explains in this video the three things she is watching for in today’s release. Bloomberg Economics sees the unemployment rate edging up to 3.8%, from 3.7% in December, and says the numbers will show a slower pace of hiring in 2023 following annual revisions. These revisions matter, according to economists Anna Wong and Stuart Paul, because they “could show the labor market was actually softer than realized last year.’’ Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this week described the labor market as strong after the central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged —and tempered expectations for a cut in March. While Americans may be spared from mass layoffs this year, they’ll face dwindling options to change positions, many will hold multiple jobs to make a decent living, and a rising number of college graduates will struggle to find what they want.
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