“The most important figure of the month” shatters expectations. Extremely high figures that will make it difficult to bring down inflation, says the senior economist.
A restaurant outside of Chicago is looking for new employees. Photo: Nam Y. Huh / AP / NTBPublished:
Less than 1 hour ago
Updated just now
353,000 new non-agricultural jobs were created in the US in January. It shows fresh figures from the US authorities in the important labor market report “Nonfarm Payrolls”.
Job growth was much stronger than expected. In advance, the economists estimated that the number of new jobs would land at 185,000, according to estimates obtained by Bloomberg.
For December, a surprisingly high 216,000 new jobs were also reported. This has now been adjusted upwards to 333,000.
Read on E24+
Startup investor: How to start a successful business
The “Nonfarm payrolls” report is an important indicator of how the US economy is doing. The number of new jobs is sometimes referred to as “the most important figure of the month”.
– Extremely high numbers
– There will be no need for an interest rate cut in the first place, says senior economist at DNB Markets, Knut A. Magnussen, to E24 after the release of the figures.
The labor market is one of the most important things the US central bank monitors when interest rates are set, along with price growth and the general development of the economy.
– These are extremely high figures. There is higher wage pressure, strong employment growth and low unemployment. This will make it more difficult to bring inflation down, says Magnussen.
Knut Magnussen at DNB Markets believes that today’s figures point to no rate cut in the US in March. Photo: Cicilie S. Andersen / E24
In connection with the report, there were also figures for unemployment and wage growth.
Unemployment remained at 3.7 per cent, while 3.8 per cent had been expected. Wage growth climbed to 4.5 per cent, while economists thought it would remain at 4.1 per cent. Wage growth in December has also been revised up to 4.3 per cent.
The dollar strengthens against the krone after the release of the figures. At the time of writing, the dollar costs NOK 10.57, up about 10 øre.
There is also an increase in the interest rate market. The important US ten-year US ten-year The interest rate on US government bonds with a maturity of ten years. has climbed from 3.89 percent to just over 4 percent.
Now you get the most important news from E24 on Whatsapp. Follow us here
Doubts about interest rate cuts in March
In the USA, the labor market has remained tight and unemployment has been low for a long time, while at the same time the central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed), has sharply raised interest rates.
“Job growth has moderated since early last year, but remains strong, and unemployment has remained low,” the central bank pointed out in connection with the interest rate decision earlier this week.
There, the interest rate was kept unchanged at the range of 5.25–5.5 per cent for the fourth time in a row.
These are “Nonfarm payrolls”
- Jobs report from the US that comes out on the first Friday of each month.
- Shows how many jobs were created outside agriculture in the US in the previous month.
- Agriculture is excluded from the statistics because it experiences large, specific seasonal variations.
- The figures are considered very important as they measure activity in the world’s largest economy. All over the world, the markets are closely following the release of the figures, which can normally have large immediate effects.
Sea view
The discussion around the interest rate in the USA is now very much about when the first interest rate cut will come, and how quickly and by how much the interest rate will be lowered. Ahead of this week’s meeting, there was speculation as to whether there would be signals about the first rate cut already at the next meeting.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said after Wednesday’s decision that he does not think a rate cut in March is the most likely scenario. In the market, short-term interest rate expectations have fallen, and there is now only a 35 percent chance of a cut in March.
– These data point in the direction of the first interest rate cut coming later than in March, says Magnussen about “Nonfarm Payrolls”.
DNB Markets has the first rate cut in the US in June in its forecasts.
also read
Unemployment in Norway increases to 2.1 per cent in January
also read
Chief economist after the Fed decision: – It is completely open what the decision will be in March
Get today’s most important economic news here!
2024-02-02 13:30:13
#jobs #created #January
