Lovely Labor

April payrolls grew a surprisingly strong 253,000, the unemployment rate fell to a 55-year low of 3.4%, the rate for Black Americans hit an all-time low, and M-o-M wage growth was reasonably hot at 0.5%. But February and March job growth was reduced by 149,000 jobs, and three-month average employment growth was 222,000 jobs, the weakest since 1/21. Very slow slowing gives the Fed cover to hold, but not cut.