The U.S. created 353,000 net new jobs in January, twice the number expected by Wall Street and far exceeding the 255,000 averaged monthly in the 12 months through January. Since the pandemic forced a partial shutdown of the economy in February and March, when the economy lost more than 20 million jobs, new-job creation has repeatedly surpassed expectations and unemployment for the past two years has hovered at a 50-year low. 

In addition to much stronger than expected job creation in January, the federal government revised job gains in December upward from 216,000 to 333,000, dispelling any notion that the job situation was weakening. Rather, it’s accelerated.