“At the same time, as economic expansions progress, we expect GDP and job growth to slow to a steadier and more stable pace than the breakneck growth pace coming out of the trough of the pandemic-induced recession,” CEA said. “Economists have referred to this as normalization or sometimes, as economic cooling.”

“We learned at least two things this morning about the U.S. labor market. First, most importantly, we learned that employers continue to hire at a strong pace, helping to generate record spells of both low unemployment and high women’s LFPRs. Second, we learned that as the pandemic continues to fade into the rear-view mirror, some key economic misalignments are realigning in a manner consistent with steady, stable, sustainable growth,” CEA said.

Adarsh Jain, CFA, Director of Financial Markets at GlobalData put it thus: “2024 started strong with labor market witnessing an unprecedented three consecutive months (Jan-March) of 15%+ month-on-month growth in job postings, signaling robust jobs demand. It is natural to anticipate a pullback from this rapid pace as companies adjust their demand, given that job postings, indicating hiring intentions, experience their first double-digit decline in four months in April, with a 12% month-on-month decrease.”