US labor market remains in good shape

The data...

In January, the US job market added 143k jobs. This was slightly less than expected (consensus 170k, Commerzbank 170k). The unemployment rate fell from 4.1% to 4.0%. Average hourly earnings rose sharply by 0.5% from the previous month. In year-on-year terms, wages rose by 4.1%, after 4.1% in December (previously reported as 3.9%).

... and the background

The US labor market remained robust at the beginning of the year. Employment growth continues to be decent, even if it was somewhat lower than expected. In addition, the job growth in November and December was revised significantly upward. The six-month moving average, which reflects the trend, has thus actually picked up again in recent months. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell slightly in December.

Wages also show that the labor market is still quite tight. Average hourly earnings rose sharply from December to January. In addition, the December data was revised upwards. Hourly wages no longer indicate any clear slowdown over the last year. However, there are methodologically better wage indicators that at least so far still show a decline in wage pressure.

The data on hours worked was weaker. Those who had a job worked fewer hours on average in January than in December, and the total number of hours worked by all employees also fell compared with the previous month.

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