上周五美国就业数据披露后市场反映强烈，4月失业率下降到7.5%（高于预期的7.6%）。我们之前也讨论到美国ZF通过人为降低劳动参与率，从而达到改善就业数据的目的。然而，尽管美国ZF的做法饱受争议，但劳动参与率仍保持在63.3%，为1978年以来的最低水平。

虽然就业总体表现好于预期，但收入指标却出人意料的出现下降。平均小时工资提高了0.2%，但平均工作时间下降了0.4%，创去年10月以来最差表现。这导致每小时工资实际下降了0.2%。换句话说，尽管4月失业率表现强劲，可总体收益却出现下降。

扩散指数显示增加就业对美国经济的影响已连续第四个月下降，至53.9%。这也表明收入增长的行业仅占所有行业的一小部分。服务业占据了一半的收入增长比例，其中休闲和娱乐也表现较好。

总体来看，我们看到美国经济有许多上涨的动能。但同样需要留意这样的增长中存在的严重失衡。值得留意的是目前的统计数据更有利于现任ZF的继续执政。

Markets rallied on the positive US employment data which brought unemployment down to 7.5%. Not only was April strong than expected, the previous 2 months were also revised up by 144k. We often discuss the labor force participation rate which has historically been reduced to artificially reduce improve employment data. However, after extensive criticism last month, participation rate remained the same at 63.3%, the lowest level since 1978.

While overall better than expected, income surprisingly weakened. Although average hourly wages improved by 0.2%, average hours worked fell by 0.4%, the worst result since October. This resulted in a net decrease in hourly earnings by 0.2%. In other words, aggregate earnings declined in April despite the strong unemployment rate.

The diffusion index which measures how widely job creation in the economy is slipped for the fourth consecutive month to 53.9% - This indicates that the gains in payroll was related to very few sectors. Business services accounted for half the gains with Leisure and Hospitality also strong.

Overall we do see many signs of momentum in the US economy but we caution that growth remains severely unbalanced and that statistics continue to be very convenient for the current administration.