Weak US employment data for April

Last night US employment data was released for April showing a weaker than expected 88,000 jobs added, one of the worst results for two years.

Drilling into the report, it showed Significant job losses in April came in general merchandise stores, where employment dropped by 41,000, and credit intermediation, where jobs fell by 14,000.

Would it appear subprime mortgage event is spreading to the rest of the economy? Are US consumers starting to cut back on consumer spending resulting in retail job loses?

» April payrolls weaker than expected – Reuters, 4th May 2007.