| Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in January and the unemployment
rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Employment continued to trend up in construction, food services and drinking places,
health care, and manufacturing.
Data collection was suspended during the brief government shutdown last month, which did not affect the final numbers, the report said.
In January, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent for the fourth consecutive month. The
number of unemployed persons, at 6.7 million, changed little over the month.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Blacks increased to 7.7 percent
in January, and the rate for Whites edged down to 3.5 percent. The jobless rates for
adult men (3.9 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), teenagers (13.9 percent), Asians
(3.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.0 percent) showed little change.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little
changed at 1.4 million in January and accounted for 21.5 percent of the unemployed.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 200,000 in January. Employment continued to trend
up in construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said the report is a mixed bag of good and bad news for the housing market.
“The best news from the January jobs report is accelerating wages, which rose 2.9% from a year ago,” Yun said in a statement. “The continuing job growth of 200,000 in January, and 2.1 million over the past 12 months, have kept the economy at essentially full employment. It is now to the point where employers have to offer higher wages to attract new employees.”
However, Yun said the labor force participation rate is still stuck at 62 percent, compared to 67 percent a decade ago, prior to the last recession. Also, the tightening labor market along with faster wage gains means that the Federal Reserve is inclined to raise interest rates more frequently.
“Ultimately, the desire to buy a home will rise because of this strong job growth with higher pay, but the financial capacity to buy will be cut because of rising interest rates,”Yun said in a statement.
The full report can be seen here.
