The US economy added 257,000 jobs last month. A revision of earlier estimates showed an additional jobs gain of 147,000 in November and December, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
US employers have created more than 1 million jobs over the past three months, the most over a three-month period since 1997.
The unemployment rate rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 5.7 per cent, but the increase was for a right reason. The labour force expanded by 703,000, pushing up the nation’s labour-force participation rate – the share of Americans who are either employed or looking for a job – by two-tenths of a percentage point to 62.9 per cent. The employment-population ratio rose to 59.3 per cent from 59.2 per cent in December.
The number of long-term unemployed – those individuals who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer – was unchanged, at 2.8 million. That was almost a third of the 9 million officially unemployed Americans.
Jobs growth was broadly spread across the economy. Health care and social assistance added 49,700 jobs. Retailers hired 46,000 workers. Construction and professional business services put on 39,000 new positions, each. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 37,000. Manufacturers created 22,000 positions. The government eliminated 10,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings increased by 12 cents to 24.75 dollars after falling 5 cents in December, taking annual wage growth to 2.2 per cent, the biggest advance since August. It is likely that higher wages, together with lower oil prices, will boost consumer spending in coming months.
The length of the average workweek was unchanged from December, at 34.6 hours.
Initial GDP figures, which were released last week, showed that the economy grew at an annualised rate of 2.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2014. Given the strong pace of job creation over the past three months and a boost provided by lower oil prices, which increase consumer spending power, fourth-quarter GDP figures may be revised upwards.
US Treasury prices dropped, pushing yields higher, while the dollar gained against the weighted basket of currencies on the jobs report.
photo: Port of San Diego / flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
