Fed’s Barkin Says Low-Hiring Persists After Recent Data Shows Drop In Unemployment: Report

According to figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics released on Friday, employers added a modest 50,000 jobs last month.

• Barkin said the current jobs landscape reflects uncertainty among businesses.
• “This fine balance between a modest job growth environment with a modest labor-supply growth environment seems to be continuing”, he said. 
• The unemployment rate for December came in lower than expected, at 4.4%. 

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Tom Barkin has reportedly said that fresh employment data reflects that a continued low-hiring environment still persists in the United States. 

The comments come after figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics released on Friday showed that employers added a modest 50,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate fell to 4.4%. 

“This fine balance between a modest job growth environment with a modest labor-supply growth environment seems to be continuing, and that was encouraging, according to a Bloomberg report.

Barkin said the current jobs landscape reflects uncertainty among businesses and productivity gains that have enabled employers to fire fewer workers. 

“Inflation has been above our target now for almost five years. It's in a lot better shape than it was two or three years ago, but it's certainly not all the way there,” the report said, quoting him.

Unemployment Drops Below Estimates

The unemployment rate for December came in lower than expected, compared to an estimate of 4.5%. The unemployment rate for November was revised downward to 4.5%, from the previously reported 4.6%, BLS data showed. 

Analysts expected an addition of 73,000 payrolls during the month, according to Dow Jones data cited by MarketWatch. This comes after a higher-than-expected addition of 56,000 jobs in November, revised downward from the previously reported addition of 64,000 roles.

U.S. equities gained in Friday’s trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up by 0.82%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) rose 1.14%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) gained 0.55%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) was up 0.08% at the time of writing. 

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