US adds many more jobs than expected
The US labour market smashed expectations last month with a surprise hiring pick-up, government data showed on Friday, despite high interest rates as the jobs market remained resilient. The world's biggest economy added 353,000 jobs in January, after December's figure was significantly revised upwards to 333,000, said the Department of Labour. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent. This will likely be positive news for US President Joe Biden, who has been trying to shore up voter sentiment on his handling of the economy as he campaigns for a second term in the White House. But even though Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told reporters this week that strong growth and a robust jobs market is not necessarily a problem for policymakers, a significantly hotter labour market could complicate their battle against inflation. In January, wage gains also rose more than anticipated at 0.6 percent from the prior month. From a year ago, average hourly earnings jumped 4.5 percent. Professional and business services were among sectors seeing job gains, alongside health care and retail trade, said the Labour Department. But it added that employment fell in areas like mining, as well as the oil and gas extraction industry. (AFP)