- The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.0 percent in January with payrolls expanding by 304,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- The Labor Force Participation (LFP) rate changed little at 63.2 percent. The Employment-Population ratio also remained at 60.7 percent. Both measures are up 0.5 percentage points over the year.
- Job gains took place in Leisure and Hospitality (+74,000) and Construction (+52,000) Health Care (+42,000) and Transportation and Warehousing (+27,000) In addition, Professional and Business Services added 30,000 jobs.
- According to the BLS, the following sectors saw little or no change in employment: Wholesale Trade, Information and Financial Activities.
- Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 85 cents or 3.2 percent. In January, the average hourly private nonfarm wage rang in at $27.56. The average workweek for all employees was unchanged at 34.5 hours.
- The number of persons employed part-time increased to 5.1 million in January, most of it coming from the private sector and due to the shutdown.
- The number of long-termed unemployed (greater than 27 weeks) remained unchanged at 1.3 million.
ANALYSIS
If anyone was looking for the federal government shutdown to pause the American jobs machine, they will have to look elsewhere. The economy entered its 100th straight month of increased employment.
According to the latest measurement, the shutdown had minimal impact on job creation with the payrolls number arriving at 304,000.
Wall Street economists expected a January print of approximately 170,000 jobs.
On Wednesday, ADP, the payroll processing company, reported an increase of 213,000 private sector jobs in January. Today, the BLS reported the economy created 296,000 private sector jobs. Both measures generally track together (See chart above).
According to the BLS, federal government employment was unchanged in January. The agency explained: “Federal employees on furlough during the partial government shutdown were counted as employed in the establishment survey because they worked or received pay (or will receive pay) for the pay period that included the 12th of the month.”
Revisions to the two previous months resulted in a decline of 70,000 jobs. The November 2018 number was revised up from +176,000 to +196,000. However, the December number was revised downward from +312,000 to +222,000.
The decline is explained by the BLS adjustment of its annual benchmarking process. Accounting for these revisions, the three-month average rang in at 241,000 per month.
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