The United States labor market again showed its strength, adding 304K jobs in January, almost twice more than the expected 165K.
The market reaction was somewhat blurred due to the softer unemployment rate and wage growth. However, in our opinion, the report has much more signs of strong economic growth.
The unemployment rate in January rose to 4.0% compared with the November lows at 3.7%. But this is due to the growing share of the economically active population: more and more people want to find work, inspired by the continuing of labor market growth. In this context, the growing share of the economically active population, together with employment growth above 200K, is a clear indication of the economic strength.