A Broadening Recovery Offsets Near-Term Weakness
· Nonfarm payrolls increased across most industries in March, signaling that the recovery is broadening and likely gaining momentum as payrolls rose by 192,000.
· The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent but the labor force participation rate and employment-population ratio both increased.
· Reports on manufacturing, motor vehicles sales, construction spending, and aggregate hours worked show the economy bouncing back from weather-induced setbacks earlier this year. February’s wider trade gap, however, hints that Q1 GDP growth may have been surprisingly soft.
Weekly Economic Financial Commentary April 4, 2014
