- The US economy added 467,000 jobs in January, vastly above the median forecast for 150,000 new payrolls.
- The unemployment rate rose to 4%, landing above the median forecast of 3.9%.
- The report shows hiring rebounding despite the US sitting in the peak of the Omicron wave.
Hiring unexpectedly accelerated in January as the Omicron variant reached its peak in the US.
The US economy added 467,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday morning. That vastly exceeded the median estimate of 150,000 new jobs from economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The unemployment rate rose to 4% from 3.9%. That landed above the median forecast of 3.9%.
The Friday report is the first to catalog the Omicron wave’s full effects on the labor market’s recovery. The report’s survey period ended just after daily case counts peaked on January 10 at more than 1.4 million. By comparison, December’s preliminary reading only tracked job creation through the start of the wave, when daily infections averaged roughly 120,000. The Omicron variant’s spread forced millions to call out sick in January, providing an early indication of the jobs report’s lackluster data. And while case counts have fallen over the last few weeks, they remain elevated compared to previous waves.
It’s unclear whether the decline in daily cases will power a steady rebound in hiring. Payroll growth started to weaken in November, well before Omicron began spreading across the US. While Omicron was the biggest hurdle for the jobs recovery last month, other factors like near-record quitting and weak labor force participation are significant headwinds.
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