US: Non-Farm Payrolls prints 164,000 in July – ING

James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, notes that the US non-farm payrolls rose 164,000 in July, almost identical to the 165,000 consensus forecast.

Key Quotes

“There were 41,000 downward revisions to the past couple of months and we are running well below the 220,000 or so average seen through 2018. On balance, however,  the report shows that US companies still have an appetite to hire. Indeed, we continue to argue that a slowdown in hiring should be expected. This is the longest US economic expansion since records began in 1854 with unemployment close to 50-year lows at 3.7% (same as in June) so it is unsurprising that companies complain that difficulty finding suitable workers is the biggest constraint on hiring.”

“This competition for workers helped push wage growth higher in July. A second consecutive 0.3%MoM gain has lifted the annual rate of wage growth up to 3.2%. This is well ahead of the 1.6% consumer price inflation figure so real household disposable incomes are rising at a decent clip, which should underpin support for spending.”