“Employment in food services and drinking places rose in January (+47,000)”.
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“Both the number of unemployed persons, at 7.8 million, and the unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, changed little in January”, BLS said in a statement.
The bureau hasn’t tallied the data for California just yet, but as of December, the state’s unemployment rate was 5.8 percent. The overall unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent from 5 percent. This contributed to the unemployment rate being stable at 4.9 percent. The shift in population controls means figures on the labor force or number of employed or unemployed in January are not directly comparable to December. The economy added an average of 221,000 jobs a month past year, a pace that was unlikely to be sustained given the slow economic output and an economy closing in on full employment.
“It strikes me as an inopportune time to be pushing a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that is projected to cost America more than 121,000 factory jobs”, said Mr. Paul, quoting projections from a recent report by the Peterson Institute of International Economics. The January figure was up 2.5 percent from a year earlier. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Workers, meanwhile, feel reasonably confident that they will find new jobs if they quit voluntarily to seek better opportunities.
“What we really want is all these people who are looking for jobs, to find jobs”, Mathur said. This is something the president acknowledged remains an issue for working Americans.
The total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in January, less than expected. “All of the jobs growth came from the private sector, which added 158,000 jobs”. Courier services hiring also probably slowed.
The decline in unemployment is no doubt a positive sign. “That 151,000 gain in non-farm payrolls included a barely believable 29,000 increase in manufacturing”. Over the year, the industry has added 384,000 jobs.
With the combined revisions, job growth in November and December was only 2,000 jobs lower than previously reported.
In a research note issued Friday morning, JPMorgan said a “bad” jobs number south of 160,000 jobs added would “exacerbate growth fears”.
Construction payrolls rose 18,000, cooling off after hefty gains in the fourth quarter. Job gains occurred in credit intermediation and related activities (+7,000).
In mid-January, Walmart announced that it was closing 154 stores in the USA, a move expected to affect as many as 10,000 employees.
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At the White House, people had to be singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” with the Labor Department release of employment numbers for January. Education services – an area sheltered from the global economy- shed 38,500 workers after steady gains in prior months. But a slight increase in the length of the typical workweek in January also bodes well for future salary increases, as do private reports showing the same pattern. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.1%, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent.
