A construction worker is seen in Miami on Jan. 5, 2024. U.S. employers added more jobs than expected in January including in the construction sector.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A construction worker is seen in Miami on Jan. 5, 2024. U.S. employers added more jobs than expected in January including in the construction sector.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
It’s Groundhog Day. And once again, the monthly jobs report has confounded forecasters.
U.S. employers added 353,000 jobs in January, according to a report from the Labor Department Friday. That’s far more than analysts were expecting.
The job market has held up remarkably well, despite the Federal Reserve’s effort to fight inflation with the highest interest rates in more than two decades.
The question is whether the Fed will see a shadow in the stronger-than-expected jobs market and extend our winter of elevated borrowing costs.
Policy makers might worry that such a strong labor market will keep prices higher for longer.
Here are four takeaways from Friday’s report.
Demand for workers is still extraordinarily strong
Nearly every industry added jobs last month. Health care added 70,000 jobs. Business services added 74,000. Even construction and manufacturing — two industries that typically feel the drag of higher interest rates — continued to hire in January.
What’s more, revised…
