The U.S gained 467,000 jobs in January despite fears the economy lost jobs amid the omicron-driven surge of COVID-19 cases, the Labor Department reported Friday.
While the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4 percent, January job growth far exceeded the expectations of many economists, who feared the U.S. likely lost jobs last month for the first time since December 2020.
Millions of Americans missed work in January after they or a loved one fell ill with COVID-19 as the Labor Department was calculating the monthly jobs report. The unprecedented number of Americans out sick and several alarming declines in private sector economic activity bred fears of a miserable January jobs report.
Six million Americans said they were unable to work in January because their employer lost business due to the pandemic, according to the Labor Department, almost double December’s total of 3.1 million. Even so, the labor market held strong through the peak of the omicron surge in mid-January with widespread jobs gains across industries.
The Labor Department also revised the December employment gain up from an initially reported 199,000 to 510,000, and November’s job gain from 249,000 to 647,000—painting a much stronger picture of the labor market than expected.
Solid January jobs numbers also keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates several times in 2022, beginning as soon as March.
The leisure and hospitality sector led January’s job gains with 151,000 new workers even as consumer activity fell off in many major cities. Restaurants and bars gained 108,000 jobs and hotels gained 23,000.
The U.S. added 86,000 jobs in professor and business services, 61,000 jobs in retail trade, 54,000 jobs in transportation, and 29,000 jobs in local government and education.
Workers also saw their wages climb as employers sought to fill millions of job openings from a smaller labor force than before the pandemic. Average hourly earnings rose 23 cents in January and 5.7 percent annually, though the average workweek for employees fell by 0.2 hour.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
