The US created more than half a million jobs in January

The United States created 517,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell one tenth to 3.4%, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These figures are above expectations and exceed the average job creation in 2022, which was 401,000.

In this way, the North American country contradicted the forecasts and formed 294,000 jobs more than during December last year. This comes at a time when the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates.

Likewise, the number of unemployed stands at 5.7 million and maintains three consecutive months of losses. Along these lines, Joe Biden, president of the United States, indicated that his policies “are working” and recalled that this is the lowest unemployment rate since 1969.

The BLS also reported that, year-on-year, earnings per hour grew 4.4%. The sector that presented the most progress was leisure and hospitality, which added 128,000 jobs in January compared to the 89,000 average in 2022. It should be noted that the number of people out of work for less than five weeks dropped to 1.9 million in January. However, the long-term unemployed, those without work for 27 weeks or more, represent 19.4% of the total and remained unchanged at 1.1 million.

rate hike

The Federal Reserve announced its eighth consecutive rise of 0.25 points, a figure lower than the previous ones. However, the increases will continue, so a period of high rates is expected to have consequences on the US labor market. The current data shows that prices are moderating and that US inflation fell again in December, for the sixth consecutive month, placing its YoY rate at 6.5%.