03 February 2012 at 13:48 GMT
Our
US Employment preview pointed to a gain in payrolls of 130,000, which was 10,000 below consensus, but the reality is that the US economy added 243,000 jobs in January. We are more than pleased about our miss, however, as the US labour market, undeterred by seasonality which usually hurts January gains, seems to be in good health. Payrolls added a magnificent 243,000 in January - the only second January 'beat' in eleven years - driven by private payrolls, which gained 257,000 pointing to a loss in government payrolls of 14,000.
Overview for January (December):
- Nonfarm payrolls up 243,000 (203,000)
- Private payrolls up 257,000 (220,000)
- Manufacturing payrolls up 50,000 (32,000)
- Unemployment rate at 8.3 percent (8.5 pct.)
- Average hourly earnings up 0.2 percent (0.1 pct.)
- Average weekly hours at 34.5 (34.5)
- Change in household survey employment +847,000!!! (176,000)
- Participation rate down to 63.7 percent (64 pct.)
- Revisions were generally small (i.e. gains were not due to downward Dec revisions)
- Nonfarm payrolls rose more than even the most optimistic forecaster had expected (+225,000)
We shall be brief with the conclusion and say that we cannot find much wrong save for the decline in the participation rate and possibly the warm weather, but now we are being picky. Great report and a solid start to 2012!