The Bureau of Labor Statistics published this Friday (3) the Employment Report, Payroll, and showed that 517,000 non-agricultural jobs were created in January, far exceeding the market estimate, which was about 185,000.
In addition, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, below market expectations for an increase to 3.6%.
According to the release, notable job gains have been achieved in the fields of entertainment and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. He noted that employment has also increased in the government, partly reflecting workers returning from strike action.
In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on the private nonfarm payroll increased 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $33.03. In the last 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 4.4%.
In the first month of 2023, the median hourly wage for private production and non-supervisory workers increased 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $28.26.
Market Offering
Today’s jobs data, along with comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, reinforced tougher rhetoric, especially with the job market very strong, Avenue Chief Strategist William Castro Alves analyzed.
“It seems that the market is already taking risks, that was the keynote of January (…) Now, the payroll data is returning that reality. The labor market is still very strong, there are still gains in wages,” said the chief. strategist.
Castro Alves also commented that it is risky to bet on a soft cut in interest rates by the Fed. “The market is reading something that I am not. I do not understand all the optimism about Jerome Powell’s comment. More and more people assume that we are going to have a soft landing. That is the justification for risk assets to perform well. But it is a very uncertain scenario,” he said.