PiCK

U.S. January nonfarm payrolls rise by 130,000, far above expectations

JOON HYOUNG LEE

Summary

The U.S. Department of Labor said nonfarm payrolls rose by 130,000 in January, nearly doubling the market forecast.
The unemployment rate in January was 4.3%, 0.1 percentage point lower than economists’ estimate and than in December.
The average hourly earnings in January rose 3.7% year on year and 0.4% month on month, slightly above forecasts.

Last month’s U.S. employment report came in well above market expectations.

The U.S. Department of Labor said on the 11th (local time) that nonfarm employment in January increased by 130,000 from the previous month. The figure is nearly double the market forecast (66,000). It is 82,000 higher than the revised December figure (48,000).

The January unemployment rate was 4.3%, 0.1 percentage point below economists’ estimate (4.4%). It was also down 0.1 percentage point from December’s unemployment rate (4.4%).

Average hourly earnings in January rose 3.7% from a year earlier, 0.1 percentage point above the forecast (3.6%).

On a month-on-month basis, they increased 0.4%, 0.1 percentage point above expectations (0.3%). Average hourly earnings are a gauge of wage inflation.

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