The January jobs report has disappointed Wall Street economists in 9 of the last 10 years
TD Securities
According to the median economists' forecast, the US added 230,000 jobs in January.Some expect that number to be higher. Others, lower.
For what it's worth, the January jobs number has a history of missing economists' expectations when it's first released.
"Over the past 10 years, the initial January payrolls print has fallen short of the consensus expectations 9 times, with an average miss of 57K - though the initial estimates were subsequently revised significantly higher in each of the last 5 years," TD Securities Millan Mulraine noted.
This doesn't really say much. If anything, it reveals a little about how bad economists are at forecasting the payrolls report.
Having said that, Mulraine believes the economic conditions support support a stronger number. He estimates 245,00o nonfarm payrolls were added in January.