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Jobs

America Added 467,000 Jobs in January Despite Omicron Surge

The pandemic isn't over, but the economy is over the pandemic. Politicians should take note.

Eric Boehm | 2.4.2022 10:10 AM

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lrphotos135219 | Richard B. Levine/Newscom
(Richard B. Levine/Newscom)

Despite an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, the U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January—an encouraging signal that, after nearly two years, the economy's fate is no longer closely tied to the pandemic.

Labor force participation also jumped in January, reaching 62.2 percent—a level not seen since before the pandemic began. That's another welcome sign that more Americans are seeking to fill the glut of available jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4 percent because of the rising labor force rate.

The monthly jobs report, released Friday by the Department of Labor, was significantly more upbeat than projections anticipated. Some economists expected slow or even negative growth after a month where the omicron variant of COVID-19 had caused widespread disruptions—and an expansion of mask and vaccine mandates in some jurisdictions. Beating those expectations shows that the economy didn't merely muddle through a difficult month, but continued growing despite the pandemic's continued impact.

Indeed, one conclusion that could be drawn from Friday's report is that the pandemic is now primarily affecting the political arena, not the economic one.

In the same release, the Labor Department also revised upward job figures from November and December, showing that the economy added about 700,000 jobs during those two months. Together with January's data, we now have a full picture of the economy during the omicron wave, and the overall picture is highly encouraging. Vaccines and other treatments have blunted the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, allowing Americans who wish to resume nearly normal lives to do so—and many have done so, despite the number of new infections.

That means it's time for officials to take a serious look at the pandemic policies that remain in place (and, in some cases, were expanded during the omicron wave.) Schools should be fully open and kids unmasked. Government-imposed vaccine and mask mandates should be removed to allow consumers and businesses to determine their own levels of risk. The rest of the country is living with the pandemic, and politicians should take notice—particularly in situations where there is little evidence that those policies are having an effect.

Been seeing a lot of governors crediting their mask mandates for "defeating" the Omicron wave. Thought I'd plot COVID cases in states with mask mandates vs. states without them, and, well… pic.twitter.com/WdhsyCINjp

— Eric (@The_OtherET) February 3, 2022

Of course, we're not yet back to the pre-pandemic normal. The economy is about 2.9 million jobs short of where it was in February 2020, and there are about 60 unemployed workers for every 100 job openings, according to a different set of government data released a few weeks ago.

That's a powerful argument for expanding immigration to help fill job openings—but the Biden administration has so far been unwilling to shed many of the anti-immigration policies imposed by its predecessor.

"We can't get inflation under control, unclog our supply chains, or fully grow our economy unless we fill these open jobs," Suzanne P. Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement earlier this week. Clark said recent actions by the Biden administration to increase H-2B visas (which are given to temporary nonagricultural workers) were a positive step but added that "addressing the worker shortage crisis needs to be a top priority for the administration and Congress."

While there is still plenty of room for improvement on the political side of the pandemic, it seems clear that the economic recovery is running full steam ahead. For anyone who lived through the nightmarish job figures in March and April 2020, this represents a stunning, and welcome, turnaround in less than two years.

Here's the chart showing just how remarkable this rebound is
(chart via @calculatedrisk ) pic.twitter.com/AfZP7HjgFc

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) February 4, 2022

The pandemic isn't over, but the economy is nearly over the pandemic. That's great news.

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Eric Boehm is a reporter at Reason.

JobsCoronavirusBiden AdministrationDepartment of LaborLabor
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  1. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   3 years ago

    Let me guess -- the pandemic lockdowns are ending and free money is running out and people have to go back to work.

    1. Minadin   3 years ago

      My upstairs neighbor, who quit his job in September 2020 to focus on receiving government assistance, is finally going back to work, too.

      1. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

        to focus on receiving government assistance

        A man's gotta follow his dreams.

      2. RubySkinner   3 years ago

        Earn income while simply working online. work from home whenever you want. just for maximum 5 hours a day you can make more than $600 per day online. (re8) From this i made $18000 last month in my spare time.

        Check info here:- ==>> Visit Here

    2. ricbee   3 years ago

      Let's hope....

  2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    America Added Recovered 467,000 Jobs in January Despite Omicron Surge

    Fixed

    1. Spiritus Mundi   3 years ago

      And by America, he means the American government with a unprecedented seasonal adjustment.

    2. RubySkinner   3 years ago

      Earn income while simply working online. work from home whenever you want. just for maximum 5 hours a day you can make more than $600 per day online. (re12) From this i made $18000 last month in my spare time.

      Check info here:- ==>> Visit Here

    3. ricbee   3 years ago

      I don't believe a word that spews out of a government mouth.

  3. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

    Soon: Turns out those 467,000 jobs are actually 46,700 jobs.

    1. Chumby   3 years ago

      When they correct the results wouldn’t be surprised if they also report some revising terrorist deaths as innocent kids.

    2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Zeros are hard.

    3. ricbee   3 years ago

      I could easily believe that.

  4. Ali Akbar Alexander   3 years ago

    I just regard this as further evidence of the failures of the Marxist-Leninist Nazi policies of the Biden administration. Those “new jobs” are probably things like delivering gruel by tractor to the starving proletariat.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Poor Shrike.

  5. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

    This can't be true.

    Wingnut.com and Hamhead Hannity say the economy is in shambles and all oil/gas production has stopped.

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Risky replying right after you socked, don't want to mess up again Shrike.

    2. Chumby   3 years ago

      What happened to your old account?

    3. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      This can't be true.

      It probably isn't. If the revised figures come out and they're not even a tenth of these ones, do you promise to fuck off forever?

      Wingnut.com and Hamhead Hannity say the economy is in shambles and all oil/gas production has stopped.

      Covid lockdowns can end even with the economy and oil transport in the toilet.

      You're too stupid to fifty-cent here, Buttplug. Have you tried Huffpo?

    4. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      … economy is in shambles and all oil/gas production has stopped.

      Oil hit $92 today. Explain.

      1. Spiritus Mundi   3 years ago

        HAPERINFLATION -oil is mostly made from spitin' tobacy

  6. Call me Don   3 years ago

    You're fired
    You're hired
    WOOO ... I created a job.

  7. Demosthenes666   3 years ago

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics applied the largest upward seasonal adjustment in history. If you apply the normal January adjustment, the payrolls number is 309K lower, or ends up being 166K, exactly in line with the expected number.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      "The Bureau of Labor Statistics applied the largest upward seasonal adjustment in history."

      Shriek and Boehm hardest hit.

  8. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

    At first I thought the sign said they were hiring barebacks.

  9. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

    For all the talk of a bad economy it appears that things are doing well. Hiring up, wages up, stack market doing well, etc. There is inflation but that could be expected under the conditions. Long term inflation is a debatable point, but I would expect it to lessen as the pandemic money works it way through the economy.

    I say go Joe Biden.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      "For all the talk of a bad economy it appears that things are doing well."

      It isn't. They fucked up the seasonal adjustment. The payrolls number is some 309K lower, at 166K.

      If Boehm had done his job he would have realized that the number released was phony. I imagine that they'll release the revised (actual) figures quietly next week.

      "I say go Joe Biden"

      Lol, I say let's go Brandon.

    2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Cannot tell from the jobs report, but hopefully, with recent much-publicized difficulties hiring workers, many people traded up for better and better-paying jobs.

      As I've said before, I wish that the government job statistics would distinguish between low-skilled jobs and the kind of jobs that one can do long-term as a career. Maybe the stats do, but I just don't know where to look.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Average spending power is -2.4% dummy.

    3. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

      I say, fuck Joe Biden.

      Fuck him, fuck the horse he rode in on, fuck his VP, his administration, his press flak, his 50-odd years of style-over-substance political grandstanding, and his five o'clock pudding. The guy wouldn't know an ethical principal if it were served to him on a silver platter with watercress around it.

      His credit for any economic progress is negative as he has actively tried to shut it all down and hold it all up.

      "Go Joe Biden" is spot on same as "Go Full Retard".

  10. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

    Been seeing a lot of governors crediting their mask mandates for "defeating" the Omicron wave. Thought I'd plot COVID cases in states with mask mandates vs. states without them, and, well…

    LOL, I just went grocery shopping and there were bins of free N95 masks. Looks like they are the ones that were recently released from the Federal mask reserve.

    Just in time for the pandemic to go endemic, and not be a big deal anymore. About two years after they would have been most useful.

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      They do nothing.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Why didn't you mention they were unpacked and exposed to the open air?

      1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

        And sneezed on and handled by others.

        1. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

          Winning! Yes we can!

  11. DaveM   3 years ago

    Meanwhile, over at the ADP, https://adpemploymentreport.com/ shows a loss of 300K private-sector jobs.

    1. EdG   3 years ago

      You can't have it both ways. There can't be 10.9 million open jobs that conservatives to whine about at the same time you're whining about a loss of 300K private-sector jobs. Doesn't add up.

  12. Tony   3 years ago

    At this point it's like who gives a fuck, the death cult won, and at least it's themselves they're mass killing.

    But that tweet is not good science. Presumably states with "a mask mandate," whatever the fuck that means, are blue states, meaning states with higher concentrations of people in cities. You need to control for shit before you jump to conclusions. Reason.

    1. EdG   3 years ago

      It's a bigger lie than even that, Tony. The time period where states with mask mandate jumped (1/10/22 and 1/17/22) was when Omicron was first targeting the heavily populated East Coast before moving westward.

      1. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

        My hovercraft is full of eels.

  13. Liberty Lover   3 years ago

    America Recovered 467,000 Jobs in January Despite Democratic Lock-Downs and Mandates

  14. Liberty Lover   3 years ago

    America RECOVERED 467,000 Jobs in January, destroyed previously by Democratic Governors lock downs.

  15. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

    The government has been spending for years. Inflation is a result of increased demand and supply shortages. Could you cite what in President Biden energy policy causes inflation?

  16. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Thanks foe the link. Stunning.

  17. EdG   3 years ago

    But you are wrong, drizzle. US oil production was higher in 2021 than in 2019.

  18. ricbee   3 years ago

    I stay off this site because of infantile and vulgar comments made by dizzle and Ed and others like them.
    Intelligence is lacking when profanity
    proliferates,you foul fingered fools.

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