In connection with the NFP news
American businesses spoke with their underlying results in January hiring new employees since February, removing fears that a 35-day partial closure from the Federal government might have a serious economic impact.
Non-agricultural wages jumped 304,000, the US Labor Department reported on Friday, far surpassing estimates of 165,000. December total adjusted to 222,000 lost 90,000. But even with that revision, the increase in employment in the last quarter averaged 241,000 a month.
The unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 4.0% partly because some government workers who were on leave were counted as unemployed and partly because more people began looking for work.
Manufacturing jobs rose 13,000 to limit the best two years for the factory sector since 1995. Average annual hourly income was steady at 3.2%.