Bank of America: US job growth will further slow down, with non-farm payrolls expected to record 155,000

Bank of America said that themes such as supply improvement, cooling demand, and normalization of the overall labor market may continue in January. We estimate that non-farm employment will increase by 155,000 in January, which is slower than the growth in December and slightly lower than the current market consensus. Although recent job growth has been strong, there are signs of further slowdown in the coming months. Overall, industries with monthly increases in staff numbers are becoming fewer and job vacancies and recruitment plans continue to shrink. In addition, initial claims for unemployment benefits remain low but continued claims have seen a slight increase, indicating greater challenges for unemployed workers in finding new jobs. We expect the unemployment rate to rise to 3.8% and average hourly wages to grow by 0.3%.