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The Labor Market Scorches Estimates
In January, the US labor market blew past estimates by adding 517,000 new jobs to the economy. A Bloomberg survey of economists had suggested the expectation was going to be much lower, at around 188,000.
In fact, just the leisure and hospitality sector alone gained 128,000 jobs, and education and health care racked up 105,000.
Despite headwinds facing the housing market, construction added 25,000 jobs, though jobs within the residential section of the construction sector were relatively flat.
While the jobs market had appeared to be slowly cooling over the last few months, the impact of a continued hot labor market may put a wrinkle into the inflationary environment, and the Fed’s battle to get it under control.
Source: Helios Quantitative Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics
