ROARING

January Jobs Numbers Blow Through All Expectations

The U.S. unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over half a century.

The U.S. unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over half a century at 3.4 percent after the economy created 517,000 jobs in January, according to the federal government’s monthly figures released Friday. The Federal Reserve is slowing down its pace of interest rate rises but is still preparing to raise them further to keep the economy controlled and to cool high inflation, as hiring skyrocketed at an unexpectedly strong rate. Forecasters expected that 190,000 jobs would be added in January, less than double the actual number. Employment in 2022 was more robust than previously reported, too, with about 568,000 jobs added onto previously reported totals.