US Employment -  May 3, 2013

The US economy added a better than expected 165,000 jobs in April while the unemployment rate ticked lower from 7.6 to 7.5 per cent.  Moreover, jobs numbers were revised significantly higher for both February and March by a combined 144,000 jobs.

So far in 2013, US job growth have averaged 196,000 per month and the unemployment rate has fallen 0.3 percentage points. 

We anticipate some degree of slowing over the next two quarters as the result of legislated declines in government spending, but the US economy is clearly on a persistent recovery path that should gain strength over the coming year.