Employers seem unperturbed by the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates and are still hiring without letting up. The non-farm payroll numbers were out on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and showed that the US economy added 292,000 jobs in December, way beyond expectations of a 200,000 increase and stood the unemployment rate at a low 5 per cent. Wages grew 2.5 per cent on the year before-- up from 2.3 per cent in November.
The employment figure showed an increase over November's 252,000 (which itself was way above expectations), although slightly lower than the 307,000 in October.
Encouraging Figures
The monthly payroll number is especially significant this month as it is the first report out after the US Fed increased interest rates for the first time in nine years in December landing the federal funds rate at 0.5 per cent. Concerns of employers cutting jobs were unfounded and the numbers are certainly encouraging for the labor market.
Also holding steady at 9.9 per cent was a separate, more encompassing measure that accounts for those who did not look for work in the past month or were working part time for economic reasons — the underemployed.
According to Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com, “It’s far too soon to know definitively if Fed Chair Janet Yellen and co made the right decision in raising interest rates last month."
The news caused the dollar to spike in early afternoon trading, rising 1.03 per cent against the euro to 0.9242 and 0.65 per cent against the yen, to118.44.