The corona pandemic had hit the US economy particularly hard. But the US job market has been on the up again for some time – this is also true despite the recent Omicron wave.
The US labor market clearly exceeded expectations in January despite the omicron wave.
Both employment and wage developments surprised the financial markets. That’s according to data released on Friday by the US Department of Labor. The development is likely to increase expectations of rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. US President Joe Biden expressed his satisfaction. He spoke of an “extraordinary” job report and “historic” progress on the job market since he took office a good year ago. “America is back to work,” Biden said at the White House.
Nonfarm payrolls added 467,000 US jobs at the start of the year. Experts had expected an average of 125,000. In addition, the increase in employment in the two previous months was revised upwards by a total of 709,000 jobs.
hourly wages increase
In addition, wage growth accelerated. Average hourly wages rose by 5.7 percent compared to the same month last year. This is the strongest increase since mid-2020. In December, the increase was 5 percent. Hourly wages increased by 0.7 percent month-on-month. Both developments exceeded analysts’ expectations.
The unemployment rate, on the other hand, rose again for the first time in six months. Month-on-month, it rose 0.1 points to 4 percent. It is the first rate increase since June. The fact that the rate is increasing despite rising employment is also due to the fact that more workers are returning to the labor market. Because of the pandemic, many had withdrawn.
Eyes are now turning back to the US Federal Reserve. It most recently signaled a rate hike for the March meeting. This would be the first since the pandemic began. In addition to inflation, the Fed is also keeping a close eye on the labor market.
Overall, Biden expressed his satisfaction with the trend over the past few months. Millions of new jobs have been created, the unemployment rate has fallen significantly, child poverty has been drastically reduced, and economic growth is the strongest in decades. But despite the historic economic advances in recent months, there is still work to be done, he acknowledged. The corona pandemic had hit the United States economy particularly hard.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
