“The U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in January giving the economy a strong start to the year amid anticipation that a Republican tax package will further boost the nearly nine-year expansion,” according to a report in The Hill today, based off a news release from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the economy has been on the uptick for a few years now, even the mainstream news outlet acknowledges that “[t]he economy is expected to continue its pace of steady jobs growth this year with the help of a $1.5 trillion Republican tax package signed by President Trump,” and “the unemployment rate is expected to fall into the mid-3 percent range in 2018.”
The current unemployment rate in the U.S. is 4.1%.
The report also details job gains in some particular industries over the past month alone: 21,000 new jobs were added to the healthcare industry, 15,000 in manufacturing, and 36,000 in construction.
Wages also rose more than previously predicted. “Average hourly earnings rose 2.9% year-on-year, the strongest pace since the recession,” notes Business Insider’s assessment of the BLS report.
