January 1, Report: Employers Added 467K Jobs Last Month

The January jobs report showed surprisingly robust numbers, with employers adding 467,000 jobs last month.

Some of the categories that saw the biggest gains have strong seasonal patterns, typically adding temporary employees in the fall and cutting them in January.

But amid an ongoing labor shortage, employers appear to have held onto those workers.

Leisure and hospitality added 151,000 jobs; retail added 61,000; transportation and warehousing added 54,000.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.7%, up 5.7% over the last year.

Despite the gains, the report said that 6 million people couldn’t work because their employers were closed or lost business due to the pandemic.

“This unemployment report is incredible. Wow. Had the prior relationship between Covid cases and employment held true, 800k daily new Covid cases would have led to 2.3 million job losses,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, tweeted. “Instead, we saw 467,000 job GAINS!”

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Payrolls show surprisingly powerful gain of 467,000 in January despite omicron surge