Quotes from Capital Economics:
- Our econometric model indicates that non-farm payrolls increased by a slightly more modest 230,000 in Feb, following some much stronger gains over the preceding few months.
- We anticipate that the unemployment rate fell to 5.6%, from 5.7%, while average hourly earnings probably increased by a solid 0.3% m/m. The evidence from other labour market indicators has been a bit more mixed recently.
- The NFIB's index of small firms' hiring intentions, which has had the closest relationship with actual payroll gains recently, points to continued strong employment growth. However, the employment indices in many of the other manufacturing and services surveys have weakened.
