US Job Gains Accelerate in January, But Unemployment Hits 5.7%

U.S. companies beat expectations in the government’s latest jobs report, hiring 257,000 workers in January. The Labor Department also raised job gains in the previous two months by 150,000 jobs.

Although the job growth was strong, it wasn’t enough to lower the unemployment rate, which rose slightly to 5.7 percent. But analysts say last month's job numbers reinforce the notion of a steadily improving U.S. economy, at least for now.

The solid January hiring numbers marked the longest consecutive stretch of job growth above 200,000 per month in more than two decades, something U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reminded lawmakers of this week.

“The fact is our businesses created nearly 3 million jobs last year, the most jobs in any year since the late 1990s,” he said.

Job gains came across the board — in retail, construction and health care. But not only did private sector hiring increase, so did average wages, which rose 12 cents an hour.

That’s worth noting, said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s Washington bureau chief.

“I think we continue to need to watch for sustained income gains, because we have remarkably low inflation in the United States right now," he said. "And right now, income gains are rising at a pace that is above inflation, and that’s a very positive development. But keep in mind it’s been many years where Americans have not seen a significant improvement in their household incomes.”

The unemployment rate did inch higher last month, but economists say that’s because more people started looking for work. Analysts expect new hires will fuel the U.S. economy in the next two quarters. After that, it's anybody's guess.

Max Wolff, chief economist at Manhattan Venture Partners, said the general expectation "is that we are going to continue to see some strong numbers under the U.S. macroeconomy through Q1 into Q2 [from January to June 2015], and then the weakness in the rest of the world is going to catch up with us."

Despite the healthy job numbers, U.S. stocks were down Friday as investors pondered the possibility that the U.S. Federal Reserve could start raising interest rates sooner — as the economy improves.

美国企业一月份的雇佣记录超过预期，新雇了25万7千名员工。美国劳动部公布的数据显示，2014年11月和12月，实际就业人数也比此前公布的数目要高出15万。

不过，失业率目前还维持在5.7%，并没有大幅下滑。分析人士说，从总体上讲，美国经济 – 至少目前来讲 – 呈稳步上升趋势。

今年一月份美国的就业持续增长，这是过去20多年来美国就业增长连续超过20万的最长一段时期。财政部长杰克.卢在国会说：

他说： “我国的企业在去年一年里创造了将近300万个就业机会，这是自从90年代后期以来，最高的一年。”

就业机会的增长呈现在各个行业，包括零售、建筑以及卫生保健。不仅私营企业的工作机会增加了，而且平均工资也有所上扬 – 平均每小时上涨了12美分。

华盛顿分析人士哈姆里克通过Skype接受美国之音采访时说，这些数字比较显著。

他说：“应当继续关注收入的增加，美国国内目前的通货膨胀率非常之低。收入的增长率要高出通货膨胀率，这是非常积极的现象。不过，要知道，前些年里，美国民众的收入一直没有十分显著的增长。”

上个月，美国的失业率确实有些微提高，但是经济学家认为，那是因为有更多的人在积极找工作。分析人士预计，接下来的两个季度里，新增的就业将促进美国的总体经济，但是在那之后，恐怕就很难说了。

经济学家麦克斯.沃尔夫说：“普遍的预期是，今年上半年，美国的经济应该会看到比较强劲的增长，之后呢，其他国家和地区的弱势经济增长可能就会影响到这里。”

尽管一月份的就业数字令人鼓舞，但是美国股市上星期五下跌，原因大概是，投资人担心，由于经济状况的好转，美联储有可能提早抬升利率。