Fed confronts up to a million US jobs vanishing

Huge numbers: People on the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan in New York City. There are a number of caveats in the preliminary labour figure, but a downward revision to employment of more than 501,000 would be the largest in 15 years. — AFP

NEW YORK: US job growth in the year through March was likely far less robust than initially estimated, which risks fuelling concerns that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is falling further behind the curve to lower interest rates.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co economists expect the government’s preliminary benchmark revisions to show payrolls growth in the year through March was at least 600,000 weaker than estimated – about 50,000 a month.