Mark Whitehouse, Columnist

Banks Hire Like They Believe in Trump

Financial-industry employment has accelerated under the new U.S. president.

April 7, 2017 at 5:25 PM UTC

Mark Whitehouse is a member of the editorial board covering global economics and finance. Previously, he reported on economics for the Wall Street Journal and was managing editor of Vedomosti, a Russian-language business daily.

Premature enthusiasm?
Photographer: Aude Guerrucci/Pool via Bloomberg

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Time and again, President Donald Trump and administration officials have promised to cut regulations that they say hold back the financial industry. The latest jobs data suggest that bankers might be buying it.

In an otherwise mixed jobs report for March, finance was among the sectors that outperformed. During the three months through March, employment in the category (which includes real estate and insurance) averaged an estimated 8.4 million, up an annualized 2.7 percent -- or 56,000 jobs -- from December. That's the fastest quarter-on-quarter pace of growth since 2006, and compares with an annualized gain of 1.5 percent for nonfarm employers overall. Here's a chart: