US non-farm payroll employment grew 467k in January, well above expectation of 150k. Prior month’s figure was also revised sharply up from 199k to 510k. Employment was still down -2.9m or -1.9% from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
Unemployment rate, however, ticked up from 3.9% to 4.0%, versus expectation of 3.9%. Participation rate rose from 61.9% to 62.2%. Average hourly earnings posted strong growth of 0.7% mom, above expectation of 0.5% mom.
