Released just this morning, January’s Job Report and December’s Job Opening Survey came in with big surprises for economic experts for another month. In January, the U.S. economy added 353,000 new Nonfarm payroll jobs. This comes in the same week the Federal Reserve has chosen not to raise the interest rates, again. The stock market has met this news with mixed emotions; some are worried about how this will affect the Reserve’s next meeting in March, and others are pleased that the economy seems to be forging ahead, in spite of all the concerns. December’s job opening report saw the number of open jobs increased, minimally, to 9 million. Unemployment did also have minimal changes, but did decrease from the previous month’s 6.3 million, now down to 6.1 million. The unemployment rate is still wavering at around 3.7%. Transportation and Warehouse job openings changed little over the last month. Not since the Nixon presidency has unemployment stayed so low for so long!
December's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
At the end of December, job openings increased slightly, rising to 9 million openings. Hires, surprisingly, did not change at the end of the year, even with the holiday season ending. Normally, that leads to a letting go of seasonal workers, but there were no obvious changes in the numbers from retail that come with this report. The quit rate decreased minimally again to 3.4 million, and layoffs and discharges increased a small amount to 1.6 million.
Once the final numbers for December were combed through, 333,000 new non-farm payrolls were added to the economy. This is a revision of 117,000 more jobs than previously thought by experts and number-crunchers.
January's Jobs Report
For the month of January, Non-farm payrolls grew by a whopping 353,000. Unemployment did not record any dramatic changes, staying at roughly 3.7%, while the labor force participation rate also remained about the same at 62.5%.
For the first month of 2024, the Federal Government had more increases in their hiring, increasing employment by an additional 15,000. Transportation and Warehousing did not have any significant changes in their numbers for the first time in many months. Retail trade employment increased by 45,000, which is surprising due to the number of jobs usually shed by businesses directly after the holiday season. Manufacturing made some large gains in January, adding 23,000 jobs in total, with 7,000 of them being just in chemical manufacturing. Leisure and Hospitality met their first month since the pandemic with minimal changes.
Conclusion
The January Jobs Report and the December Job Opening and Turnover Survey came in with several surprises this month, just as the reports have for the last several months. Today, these numbers are bringing mixed reactions to the stock market. With the Federal Reserve deciding this week to not lower interest rates, and, with the rumors that they will also refuse to do so at their next meeting in March, economists and experts are still concerned about what this means for the country’s financial future. Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to see!
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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