The Day at a Glance | April 10 2023

*The US employment report for March came in higher than expected, although it was more moderate for a second consecutive month. 

*The unemployment rate in the US fell to 3.5% in March. 

*President of the World Bank, David Malpass, reported a revision to his global growth forecast for 2023, increasing it from 1.7% to 2.0%. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund`s Director stated last Thursday that she expects global growth to set at around 3% in the next three years. 

*In Mexico, light vehicles exports reached 272,667 units in March, up 3.88% annually. During the first quarter of the year, 741,306 vehicles were exported – a 8.86% annual increase. 

*The production of light vehicles increased 12.12% in March, with a total of 346,124 units produced for the month and 922,177 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, 8.61% higher than the same period last year. 

Economic environment

236,000 new jobs were created in the US during March. This figure slightly exceeded the estimated 230,000 positions forecasted by the consensus, although it marked a significant slowdown from the 311,000 positions recorded in February. This decrease was mainly  due to the service sector, which logged the creation of 152,000 positions, down from a 211,000 logged in February. In terms of remuneration, there was a monthly revision of +0.3%, resulting in an annual increase of 4.2%, the lowest reading since June 2021. However, the unemployment rate fell again to 3.5% – along with a marginal increase in the labor force, which rose from 62.5% to 62.6%. Even though the moderation in the number of hires is a sign of the labor market cooling down, the level above 200,000 monthly positions remains solid, changing the overall reading of the labor market in the first quarter only slightly – which is a sign of strength as more than one million jobs were created.