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BUSINESS Saturday 2 February 2019
A25

A robust job gain in January shows US economy's durability

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. her husband both have
employers shrugged off last Navy pensions, her new job
month's partial shutdown has provided much-need-
of the government and en- ed income and health in-
gaged in a burst of hiring surance. That, in turn, has
in January, adding 304,000 allowed their family to
jobs, the most in nearly a spend a bit more freely.
year. "I am right now planning
The healthy gain the gov- our first family vacation in
ernment reported Friday three years," she said.
illustrated the job market's Jacumin, her husband and
resilience nearly a decade three children will head to
into the economic ex- Hilton Head in South Caro-
pansion. The U.S. has now lina in July.
added jobs for 100 straight The partial government
months, the longest such shutdown caused 800,000
period on record. workers to miss two pay-
The unemployment rate checks. But because these
did rise in January to 4 per- workers will eventually re-
cent from 3.9 percent, the ceive back pay, they were
Labor Department said, but counted as employed in
mostly for a technical rea- the survey of businesses
son: The number of people that produces the monthly
counted as temporarily un- job gain.
employed jumped 175,000, But in a separate survey of
with most of that increase households that's used to
consisting of federal work- calculate the unemploy-
ers and contractors affect- ment rate, some of these
ed by the shutdown. people were counted as
The government on Friday temporarily jobless. That's a
also sharply revised down key reason why the unem-
its estimates of job growth In this Jan. 3, 2019, file photo an employment sign hangs from a wooden fence on the property of ployment rate rose despite
in November and Decem- a McDonald's restaurant in Atlantic Highlands, N.J. the healthy job gain.
ber. Still, hiring has acceler- Associated Press Most economists have fore-
ated since last summer, a cast that the shutdown will
development that has sur- fueling more consumer find and keep workers, she to being counted as hav- likely slow economic growth
prised economists because spending, which would said. ing just one job beginning for the first three months of
hiring typically slows when help drive economic "They've enjoyed two de- in February. this year. But some say that
unemployment is so low. growth. cades of minimal pay And for most of January, even businesses that lost in-
"The overwhelming conclu- Most sectors of the econ- growth in general," she the weather was relatively come from the shutdown
sion from today's numbers omy reported solid hiring said. "It's our job to educate warm in much of the United likely held onto their staffs,
is that the U.S. labor market gains in January. Education our clients about the labor States, which likely boosted knowing that the shutdown
remained incredibly strong and health care added market." construction employment. would only be temporary.
at the start of 2019," said 55,000 jobs, retailers nearly On a monthly basis, from Builders added 52,000 jobs, The nonpartisan Congres-
Leslie Preston, senior econ- 21,000 and professional and December to January, the most in nearly a year. sional Budget Office esti-
omist at TD Economics. business services, which in- wages barely rose, though. The strong job market, mates that the shutdown
Diane Swonk, chief econo- cludes such higher-paying That's likely to keep the though, is encouraging slowed annual growth for
mist at Grant Thornton, said positions as engineers and Federal Reserve unlikely to more people who weren't the January-March quar-
that many federal work- architects, 30,000. raise interest rates in the working to begin looking. ter by about 0.4 percent-
ers and contractors likely The ongoing demand for coming months, econo- The proportion of Ameri- age point, to a rate of 2.1
went out and found part- workers is leading some mists said. Chairman Je- cans who either have a job percent, though that loss
time work during the 35- businesses to offer higher rome Powell said earlier this or are seeking one — which should lead to a bounce-
day shutdown. The ability pay to attract and keep week that the case for rais- had been unusually low back later this year.
of many of them to do so is staff. Average hourly wag- ing the Fed's benchmark since the recession ended The partial government
itself a sign of the job mar- es rose 3.2 percent in Jan- rate had weakened. Many a decade ago — reached shutdown has delayed the
ket's strength, Swonk said. uary from a year earlier. economists and investors 63.2 percent in January, release of a range of gov-
Last month's healthy job That's just below the annual took that as a sign that a the highest level in more ernment data about the
gain will assuage some gain of 3.3 percent in De- rate increase is unlikely any than five years. economy, including sta-
concerns that had arisen cember, which matched time in the coming months. Jessica Jacumin began a tistics on housing, factory
about the U.S. economy. October and November Swonk cautioned that permanent job a month orders, and fourth-quarter
Global growth is weaken- for the fastest increase some quirks likely inflated ago as a cook at an as- growth.
ing, the Trump administra- since April 2009. last month's job gain. For sisted living facility in Au- The reports that have been
tion is engaged in a trade Teresa Carroll, an execu- example, some of the fur- gusta, Georgia, after work- released have been mixed.
war with China and high- tive at the staffing firm Kelly loughed federal workers ing there as a paid intern. The Federal Reserve's in-
er mortgage rates have Services, said her company and contractors who took Before that, she had been dustrial production report
slowed home sales. Those has explained to many cli- part-time jobs during the out of work and mostly not showed that manufactur-
factors have led many ents that they have to pay 35-day government shut- looking while she spent 18 ing output rose in Decem-
economists to forecast more to find the workers down might have been months studying culinary ber by the most in nearly
slower growth this year they need. Some employ- counted as having two jobs arts at Helms College, a a year, boosted by auto
compared with 2018. ers are still reluctant to of- during January. Now that career school sponsored production. But consumer
Yet strong hiring should fer higher pay, which has the shutdown has ended, by Goodwill Industries. confidence fell in January
boost household incomes, made it harder for them to these people will go back Though Jacumin, 42, and for a third straight month.q