- The US added 517,000 jobs in January, starting the year with surprisingly strong job creation.
- January’s job growth far surpasses the forecast of 185,000 jobs added.
- The US unemployment rate in January was 3.4%, below the 3.6% estimate.
The US started the year with a shockingly strong labor market.
The US added 517,000 jobs in January, according to nonfarm payrolls data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was far above the forecast 0f 185,000 jobs added from economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Additionally, the US unemployment rate was 3.4% in January, a new recent low and below the 3.6% economists forecasted.
Job growth in December was revised from 223,000 to 260,000. November’s job creation was also revised from 256,000 in the last news release in January to 290,000 in Friday’s report. Friday’s news release came with revisions because of the annual benchmark process, “updated seasonal adjustment factors,” and industry changes.
“Revisions due to both the NAICS 2022 conversion and the benchmark process will affect more historical data than is typical in the annual benchmark process,” a news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month noted.
In addition to the job creation data from The Employment Situation report on Friday, data out Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also showed how the US job market closed out 2022. Openings soared in the last month of the year to 11.0 million, an increase of over 500,000 openings from November’s level.
The US saw its openings per unemployed person ratio climb from 1.7 in both October and November to 1.9 in December. 2022 was a series high in the number of quits with annual results start in 2001.
“More than 50 million Americans quit their jobs in 2022, compared to just 40 million in 2018 and 42 million in 2019,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said. “Rather than petering out, the Great Resignation remained in full swing throughout the year.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed out how job growth has been at a press conference Wednesday after the Fed increased interest rates by 25 basis points.
“Although the pace of job gains has slowed over the course of the past year and nominal wage growth has shown some signs of easing, the labor market continues to be out of balance,” Powell said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.