The United States saw better than expected results in terms of added jobs in January. On the other hand, the wage growth did not meet the forecast figures.
There were 227,000 jobs added in the U.S. in January, exceeding the 180,000 jobs the economists expected. Retail industry accounted for the biggest gains with 46,000 jobs added for the period. Construction sector added the second-highest number of jobs at 36,000 while government jobs rose by 10,000 and manufacturing only added 5,000 jobs last month, Yahoo! Finance reported.
Meanwhile, unemployment rate climbed to 4.8 percent, still better than the 10 percent in 2009. However, President Donald Trump said the unemployment rate is actually at 40 percent, considering students and retirees.
Wage gains only stood at 0.1 percent from the previous month, a disappointment to the 0.3 percent economists forecast. Year on year, wage only grew 2.5 percent. That means wages are better than last year, although it's not that positively felt because the growth was slow.
Still, these figures are noteworthy for former President Barack Obama, who inherited a financial crisis and was able to turn things around, as MarketWatch reported.
Looking to the future, President Trump plans to modify how the economy, including employment, interest rates and taxes, are measured. According to MarketWatch, one of the things the current administration is considering is putting emphasis on what is called U-5 rate.
For instance, the 4.8 percent unemployment rate in January would rise by 0.1 point to 5.8 percent if the following are added: people who think there's no job available to them, those who are "marginally attached to the labor force," and those who are not seeking jobs for family or transportation reasons.
How did you feel about the jobs growth of the previous administration? Did you feel the effect of the said improvement? Share your thoughts below!
