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New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly employment situation report confirms that the historically strong U.S. labor market has continued to expand into 2020.
The report’s Establishment Survey finds that the economy added 225,000 jobs in January, crushing market expectations of 158,000 jobs. Including upward revisions to November and December, average monthly employment growth over the past year was a healthy 171,000 jobs. The sectors that saw the largest gains last month were education and health services (+72,000), construction (+44,000), and leisure and hospitality (+36,000).
This month’s report included BLS’ annual revisions to the Establishment Survey. These revisions showed that 514,000 fewer jobs were added during the year ending in March 2019 than were previously reported. These revisions do not mean that jobs were lost, but rather that they were previously overestimated. But due to strong job growth in January, the economy has still added 7 million jobs since President Trump’s election. In the 38 months since the election, the economy has created at least 100,000 jobs in 34 of those months and has added jobs every single month.
Sustained job creation drives up Americans’ wages, as the past year and a half saw the strongest earnings gains since the recession. Average hourly earnings grew 3.1 percent year-over-year, marking the 18th consecutive month of growth of 3 percent or more. Wages rose even faster for production and non-supervisory workers, who saw 3.3 percent year-over-year growth. Under President Trump, workers’ wages have grown faster than their managers’ wages—the opposite result than under the previous administration.