The US unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than five decades as employers added 517,000 jobs in January, according to data released on Friday. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The US unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in January, the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. The unemployment rate is down .1% from last month.
Work force participation, which is the combined number of people currently employed and those who are unemployed, has essentially remained unchanged at 62.4% last year after declining during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January 2022, there were 1.6 million Americans who had been on unemployment for more than six months. As of January 2023, there were 1.1 million Americans.
The strong job data comes as the Federal Reserve attempts to tame the economy with rising interest rates to offset inflation. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the eighth time in a row this week.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated that the Federal Reserve aims to keep inflation down to 2%. As of December 2022, the inflation rate was 6.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, the rise in interest rates has prompted fears of a recession, which could lead to job losses.
Average hourly wages rose from $1.40 a year ago to $31.63 in January 2022 from $33.03 last month.
