???? U.S. LABOR MARKET MUCH WEAKER THAN EXPECTED ????????

The most important figure is Nonfarm Payrolls: -23,000 jobs versus +80,000 expected. The U.S. economy therefore lost jobs during the month, a clear sign of a slowdown in the labor market.

The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.1%, better than the 4.2% expected. This is not necessarily a contradiction: payrolls and unemployment come from two different surveys and can diverge in the short term.

Wages were also weak: average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% month-over-month and 3.2% year-over-year, both below expectations.

This suggests that wage pressures are cooling, which could potentially also reduce inflationary pressures.
Overall, this is a clearly weak report for both employment and wage growth.

For the Fed, it means less pressure coming from the labor market, although the decline in unemployment makes the overall picture less straightforward.