The new year is getting off to a rousing start employment-wise, as the latest job report coming out of Washington shows payrolls nationally increasing by a very healthy 517,000 in January.
Conversely, the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point since the early months of Richard Nixon’s presidency in the spring of 1969 at 3.4%.
The new numbers, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, were particularly surprising for analysts who had forecast a gain of no more than 187,000 jobs for the month.
According to a release issued by the BLS, “Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and healthcare.”
The 517,000-job gain was the largest recorded since July of last year, when the country was still emerging from the Covid 19 economy and new jobs totaled 537,000.
Since then, the new monthly job totals have ranged from 223,000 to 292,000.
According to the BLS report, the leisure and hospitality industry added 128,000 jobs last month, with professional and business services up by 82,000; and scientific and technical services seeing an increase of 41,000.
More than 25,000 new jobs were seen in the construction industry. According to an analysis released by the Associated General Contractors of America, non-residential contractors added 19,300 new employees last month, with residential contractors up by 5,500.
Said the Wall Street Journal: “The unexpectedly strong hiring gains raise questions about whether the economy, which had been losing momentum over the past several months, is starting to pick up steam again.”
The financial publication Barron’s observed that the new numbers “surprised and baffled economists on Wall Street,” adding that the figures “suggest diminished risks of recession.”
In a statement, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh remarked: “With unemployment down, and infrastructure and manufacturing investments moving forward across the nation, we are truly seeing what it looks like to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”
By Garry Boulard
