The Economy Just Gained 227000 Jobs. Here’s How It Can Continue Growing

The sectors that saw job growth included retail trade, construction and financial activities. A particularly positive note in the report was that goods-producing companies showed life, hiring 46,000 workers, the biggest increase in two years.

It’s the last report from the Obama Administration.

The January jobs report was solid throughout. The new president has argued unemployment is really above 40% – counting retirees and students as jobless and hopeless.

The unemployment rate ticked up to a low 4.8 percent last month from 4.7 percent in December. The unemployment rate is now 4.8%, a level just about any president would love to claim as a legacy.

However, there were some negative parts in the report: the U.S. Labour Department said average hour wages grew by only 0.1 per cent last month, and that the number of people working in part-time jobs who wanted full-time work went up. Neither Trump nor anybody else could put more than a small fraction of these adults to work without clearing out all the colleges and nursing homes as well as urging people who want/need to be stay-at-home parents to drop their kids off at day care so they can get jobs.

Bruce Yandle is a distinguished adjunct professor of economics with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and dean emeritus of the Clemson University College of Business & Behavioral Science.

Despite surprisingly strong jobs growth, wage growth continues to be a problem.

Yet some of the economy’s weak spots remain: Average hourly wages barely increased last month. The number was 52,000 more jobs than economists have been looking for.

Beyond the minimum wage, it will take time for the economy to feel the effects of Trump’s policies.

“Job growth is critical in a rising interest rate environment”, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors in a statement reacting to the Labor Department release.

The US economy created 227,000 jobs in January, shocking analysts who were preparing for a much lower figure.

Of the total for January, 237,000 new jobs were generated in the private-sector, while the public sector shed 10,000 jobs.

New jobless numbers for local communities won’t be out for another few weeks.

January’s jobs figures reflect hiring that occurred mainly before Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20.

America added 227,000 jobs in January, well ahead of December’s gain of 157,000 jobs. The increases in non-residential building and heavy/civil engineering construction were more retrained, +9,000 and +6,000 respectively. Restaurants and bars also continued their upward trend, adding 30,000 new positions.