The National Employment Report indicates that private sector employment increased by 219,000 jobs from December to January. However, the number of jobs added in December was revised down from 202,000 to 199,000.
Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics’ chief economist, attributes January’s employment gain to the nation’s relatively stable winter weather.
“Mild winter weather provided a significant boost to the January employment gain,” Zandi said. “The leisure and hospitality and construction industries, in particular, experienced an outsized increase in jobs. Abstracting from the vagaries of the data, underlying job growth is close to 125,000 per month, which is consistent with low and stable unemployment.”
The report indicates that construction employment increased by more than 40,000 jobs, and overall the goods-producing sector is predicted to increase by 54,000 jobs.
Below is a breakdown of job segments that saw changes in employment between December and January:
The goods-producing sector increased by 54,000 jobs, including:
Natural resources and mining: Decrease 2,000
Construction: Increase 47,000
Manufacturing: Increase 10,000
The service-providing sector increased by 237,000 jobs, including:
Trade, transportation and utilities: Increase 8,000
Information: Increase 2,000
Financial activities: Increase 2,000
Professional and business services: Increase 49,000
Education and health services: Increase 70,000
Leisure and hospitality: Increase 96,000
Other services: Increase 10,000
“The labor market experienced expanded payrolls in January,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and cohead of the ADP Research Institute. “Goods producers added jobs, particularly in construction and manufacturing, while service providers experienced a large gain, led by leisure and hospitality. Job creation was strong among midsized companies, though small companies enjoyed the strongest performance in the last 18 months.”
The chart below demonstrates the rate of increase since 2013:
NOTE: This report is a monthly measure of the change in total U.S. non-farm private employment derived from actual, anonymous payroll data of client companies served by the company. The data is collected and processed with statistical methodologies similar to those used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: Housingwire
