US jobs report for January is likely to show that steady hiring growth extended into 2024
Few saw this coming.
A year ago, most economists envisioned a bleak 2023 for the United States. The economy, they warned, seemed sure to falter, probably sinking into a recession, with employers adding barely 100,000 jobs a month on average, enough to keep up with population growth but not much more.
No recession arrived. Instead, lots more jobs did — a monthly average last year of 225,000. The job market defied the doomsayers and shaken off the ever-higher interest rates that the Federal Reserve engineered to fight high inflation.
The economy, in fact, it delivered job growth at just about the ideal pace: Fast enough to support household
