January Employment Gains - February 2022

On Friday, February 04, 2022, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January.  This far exceeded expectations of near-zero additional jobs.  The unemployment rate increased to 4% from 3.9%, indicating more people are entering the workforce looking for employment.  Part of what draws potential employees back to the workforce is the growth in wages in January of 5.7%, well above pre-pandemic levels.  These data points support the view that the Federal Reserve will begin raising interest rates in March of this year.