The latest private sector employment report came in far above consensus forecasts, suggesting persistent inflationary forces and more pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep cooling the economy aggressively.
Payroll processor ADP reported on Mar. 8 that U.S. private employment increased by 242,000 jobs last month, considerably higher than consensus forecasts of 200,000 positions.
Also, data for January were revised higher to show 119,000 jobs added instead of 106,000 as previously reported.
Wage growth pressures eased a little but remained elevated in February, with job-stayers seeing a 7.2 percent pay boost in annualized terms and job-changers notching a 14.3 percent hike. That’s down from 7.3 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively, in January….