DAVY VIEW

US payrolls data for December released this afternoon point to a broadly stable labour market into the end of the year, aligning in broad terms with other recent data. However, the broader story is that employment has been essentially flat since April, up just 12k a month on average for May to December. This is a near standstill relative to the 156k net job additions a month on average for January 2024 to April 2025. November’s increase was revised down slightly, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%.