"The labour market should strengthen in the months ahead"
- Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc.
The pace of hiring in the world's largest economy eased slightly last month, while unemployment rate edged higher from previous month's level, the Labor Department figures showed on Friday. Payrolls grew 157,000 in January, slightly above yearly average of 153,000 net new positions per month, and the overall jobless rate held at 7.9% after the December's figure was revised up from a previously reported 7.8%. The report also showed that factories added 4,000 workers in January, compared with a projected 10,000 advance and following an 8,000 increase in the prior month. At the same time, employment at private service-providers rose 130,000 last month, while construction companies took on 28,000 workers, almost matching the 30,000 added in December.
"The labour market should strengthen in the months ahead," said Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, and the best payrolls forecaster over the past two years according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "As long as Washington is able to resolve many of the issues that remain on the table, the economy should get much stronger."
"The U.S. labour market has been very resilient in recent months," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Group in New York, who forecast a 160,000 gain in payrolls.
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