The US economy added 517,000 jobs in January, faster than expected job growth after forecasts that job growth would slow as the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates.
The unemployment rate was 3.4%, slightly lower than December.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said job growth was spread across several sectors, including leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and health care. There was also an increase in government wages.
The robust report hides some headlines about mass layoffs, particularly in the tech industry, as well as media cutbacks.
Seasonally adjusted jobs in motion picture and sound recording remained at the level of the previous month at 465,900. However, the number of jobs at broadcast and content providers fell by 2.7% to 355,900. Employment in publishing fell by 1.3% to 952,600. Telecommunications jobs fell 1.4% to 656,700.
The average hourly wage on private payrolls rose 10 cents to $33.03. The average hourly wage has risen by 4.4% over the past 12 months.
“This is a staggering number,” University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers wrote on Twitter. “This surge in stories of layoffs? It affected a small, non-representative part of the economy. Real America will still work.”
Still, the surge in job growth has caused some economists to question whether that’s an accurate picture. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi wrote that the report was “so strong” that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had “measurement problems.”
“Most likely problems adjusting data seasonally, which is especially important in January. This January was the fifth warmest on record.” He wrote.
He wrote: “I will not take this data lightly. In fact, based on the full employment numbers from UI records, with which today’s data is ultimately compared, there is strong evidence that future revisions will show that the economy has added far fewer jobs over the past year.”
In its periodic reports, the BLS regularly revises the figures for the previous months.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote: “We should take today’s jobs report with a pinch of salt – many people who know these numbers have been warned about statistical noise. But it’s clear that we have indeed seen a … Biden surge.
There is more to come.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
