- Prior was +199K
- Estimates ranged from -400K to +385K
- Two month net revision +700K
- Unemployment rate 4.0% vs 3.9% expected
- Prior unemployment rate 3.9%
- Participation rate 62.2% vs 61.9% prior (was 62.8% pre-pandemic) (prior revised to 62.2%)
- U6 underemployment rate % vs 7.3% prior
- Average hourly earnings +0.7% m/m vs +0.5% expected
- Average hourly earnings 5.7% y/y vs +5.2% expected
- Average weekly hours 34.5 vs 34.7 expected
- Change in private payrolls +444K vs +150K expected
- Change in manufacturing payrolls +K vs +25K expected
- Long-term unemployed at 1.7m vs 2.0m prior (vs 1.2m pre-pandemic)
- The employment-population ratio, at 59.7% vs 59.5% prior (61.1% before pandemic)(prior revised to 59.7%)
The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 5.7 million in January
Full report
Note that that the BLS introduced new population controls into the household survey derived from the 2020 census which won’t be incorporated into the historical data.
There are some strange numbers in this data, like +61K in retail trade, temporary help +26K and food services & drinking places +108K. That's tough to square with the omicron wave.
Here's the full table of monthly revisions and it's a reminder that the month-to-month changes in non-farm payrolls are meaningless.
