Big miss in US non-farm payrolls for March

Hiring in the US slowed much more sharply than expected last month, although some economists shrugged of the weak print, arguing that a more modest pace of job growth was to be expected.

US non-farm payrolls rose by 103,000 in March - the lowest reading in six months - falling far short of economists' forecasts for an increase of 193,000.

Nevertheless, it followed an upwardly revised gain of 326,000 for February, the strongest reading in two-and-a-half years, Paul Ashworth, chief economist at Capital Economics pointed out.

In particular, hiring slowed in construction, retail, professional and business services and in health care and social assistance, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Furthermore, job growth for the previous two months was revised lower by a combined 50,000.

The rate of growth in average hourly earnings on the other hand did pick-up from a year-on-year pace of 2.6% for February to 2.7% in March.

Yet that too fell short of economists' forecasts calling for a rise to a 2.8% clip.

Meanwhile, at 4.1% the rate of unemployment was unchanged from the month before, as the labour force participation rate dipped by one tenth of a percentage point to 62.9%.

In an immediate reaction, Mohammed El-Erian tweeted: "should serve to reduce #markets concerns about an overheating #economy that increases the risk of a policy mistake."

Ashworth on the other hand opted to point out how despite the month-to-month volatility in the numbers, employment growth was trending higher and wage growth was beginning to "heat-up".

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