2019’s first job’s report indicates that the US is starting out with a bang, adding 304,000 jobs in January, and CNN loves it:
JUST IN: US employers added 304,000 jobs in January, well above what economists had expected. https://t.co/dHM4zVsbmk pic.twitter.com/Fsd7rRpecq
— New Day (@NewDay) February 1, 2019
Here’s more on the job’s report from Market Watch:
The U.S. gained 304,000 new jobs in January — the biggest increase in almost a year — in another show of strength for an economy that’s still growing soundly even in the face of more headwinds.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a modest gain of 172,000 nonfarm jobs, but mainly because hiring in December had seemed so strong.
Instead the government slashed its original estimate of new jobs in December to 222,000 from 312,000 as part of an annual update based on newly available information. That’s the largest monthly revision since 2010.
Still, the economy has added an average of 241,000 jobs a month since November, marking one of the best stretches during a nearly 10-year-old economic expansion. And employment gains in 2018 were the strongest in three years.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, edged up to 4% from 3.9%. The jobless rate has been creeping higher since hitting a half-century low of 3.7% last fall.
The Labor Department said the government shutdown did contribute to the higher jobless rate, but it had “no discernible impacts” on the surge in hiring in January.
Note that they point out that December’s strong job’s report numbers fell by 90,000 jobs. There are always revisions, but that’s a lot of jobs to revise downward.
Assuming that doesn’t happen again, this year looks like it’s gotten off to a great start.