Former Federal Reserve Officer Comments On Friday's Job Numbers

Former Federal Reserve Officer Dr. Thomas Simpson told Benzinga the Friday jobs report “suggests that the labor market continues to improve.”

Simpson thought the data points “to fairly robust growth in output over the end of 2014 and into 2015, more than suggested by the demand-side indicators.”

With regard to average hourly earnings, Simpson cautioned that the measurement is volatile. Without “clearer signs of an upturn in labor compensation,” according to Simpson, “the Fed will remain very cautious in starting to normalize monetary policy.”

Simpson also commented on the labor force participation rate, which fell in December. “Basically, more people were drawn back into the labor force. This has been expected to occur as the labor market improves. In these circumstances, the unemployment rate is not a very good measure of slack in the labor market.”

Kevin Riley and Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report