EXPLAINER: 5 key takeaways from the January jobs report

By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The message the U.S. jobs report sent Friday was a surprising one: Despite a surge in viral cases in January, the labor market is so healthy that employers kept hiring last month at a pace that far surpassed anyone’s expectations. Before Friday, the widespread view was that COVID-19’s highly transmissible omicron variant had kept people home and held down hiring in January. Some economists even predicted a job loss for the month. Instead, employers added 467,000 jobs. At the same time, though, the sizzling job market means that inflation will likely keep simmering, all but ensuring that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates several times this year.