The article I covered compared the Dow Jones projection for number of jobs created rate to the actual report. Dow Jones had projected that January would only have 185,000 jobs created. This amount would be similar to the bad months during last year such as March, July, and October. Fortunately for the United States economy, the amount of jobs created during January was 353,000. This is more than the last 11 months, which could indicate the economy is entering 2024 on solid ground. Around half of these jobs were created from the business industry (74,000), and health care industry (70,000). When this news came out, stocks were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped at the open, however, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were both positive.
One thing I found interesting was that this news has made people assume that the Fed won't drop interest rates until at least March. This could cause the housing sector to struggle again at the start of 2024. Right now people aren't buying houses because of the high interest rates and if the Fed doesn't drop interest rates, it is likely the amount of houses bought will be even lower.
It is interesting that there was such a high increase in added jobs this month. I wonder what caused the business and health care industries to add so many jobs. It will be interesting to see how next months numbers compare.
ReplyDeleteForecasts are usually always off, but I wonder what caused their projection to be so off. It is a very positive thing that even more jobs were created than expected. The interest rates on houses seems to be concerning, if enough people stop buying houses, the market seems like it will crash.
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