The U.S. labor market showed surprising strength in January, adding far more jobs than economists anticipated and revealing a significant increase in wage growth.
The jobs report, published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes the following data:
- Non-farm payrolls increased by 353,000 in January, a jump from the upwardly revised figure of 333,000 for December and well above the expected 180,000. It's the largest monthly job gain since January 2023.
- In January, the healthcare sector saw an increase of 70,000 jobs, including growth in ambulatory healthcare services (+33,000), hospitals (+20,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+17,000).
- The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.7%, below the expected 3.8%.
- Average hourly earnings showed 0.6% growth for the month, a sharp increase from the previous 0.4% and below the predicted 0.3%.
- On an annual basis, wage growth increase to 4.5%, which was above both the prior 4.4% and expected rate of 4.1%.
Market Reactions
Treasury yields rose after the release of the January's jobs report. The 10-year yield rose 9 basis points to 3.94%, while the policy-sensitive two-year yield rose by 14 basis points to 4.35%.
Futures linked to major U.S. stock averages backed off from an upward trend in premarket trading on Friday. Contracts tied to the S&P 500 were up by 0.2% as of 8:35 a.m. in New York, while those linked to the Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.2%.
The majority of premarket gains were driven by major tech companies, with Meta Platforms Inc.
