Economists Expected Lousy Jobs Report, Got the Opposite

Economists were expecting a lousy jobs report on Friday, but it came in much stronger than expected. Employers seem to have weathered the omicron surge in January better than anticipated. The numbers:

• Jobs: Employers added 467,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported. Estimates varied widely ahead of the release, notes CNBC. A common forecast was for a more modest gain of 150,000 jobs, but many analysts expected the number to actually decline because of the COVID variant. The outlet describes the final number as a "stunning gain."
• The rate: The unemployment rate ticked up to 4% from 3.9%, which is still near historical lows, per the Wall Street Journal.

• Context: This is the biggest monthly gain since October, all the more impressive because stats were collected when omicron was at its peak in the US, causing about 1 million new cases a day, notes the Washington Post. "The new numbers show that there is sufficiently strong momentum in the job market, enough so to keep chugging along despite a public health crisis," writes Emily Pack at Axios.