Washington (AFP)

"JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" Donald Trump welcomed in a tweet Friday the dynamism of the American labor market in January, stimulated by the construction and health sectors.

In total, 225,000 jobs were created in the first month of 2020, a number far higher than analysts' projections (164,000). It is also much more than the 147,000 registered in December (revised upwards).

These are "fabulous figures," reacted to some journalists the Republican president, campaigning for his re-election.

"Jobs are booming, wages are soaring!", He already exclaimed Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

In January, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 point to 3.6% but it is in fact a sign of dynamism since more than 183,000 people returned to the job market.

Indeed, as the job market environment has improved since the financial crisis to reach full employment under the Trump era, companies have started to hire people with disabilities or with a criminal record, the same people who were no longer counted in the statistics because they could not find a job.

The participation rate in the job market thus increased in January, reaching 63.4% (+0.2 points over one month).

In detail by sector, with an addition of 44,000 jobs, that of construction benefited from a rather mild weather in January. Usually, heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures disrupt activity. The job creations were also distributed fairly between residential and non-residential construction, the ministry said.

For their part, jobs in the health sector continued to rise (+36,000 for care, +23,000 for ambulatory services and +10,000 in hospitals), largely reflecting the growing need for care for the elderly due to the Aging of the population.

As in previous months, the leisure and hotel sector continued to hire (+36,000 additional jobs). The US administration notes that a total of 288,000 jobs have been created in this sector in the past six months.

- Wages on the rise too -

Not surprisingly, the retail sector on the contrary lost 8,300 jobs after a positive December (+44,900) thanks to Christmas shopping. The underlying trend remains unchanged. This sector has long been affected by competition from online "shops" and that of the American giant Amazon, making many stores disappear from the American landscape.

The manufacturing sector also lost jobs (-12,000), suffering from the automotive sector and the civil aeronautics sector. Last month, it suffered in particular from the shutdown of production of the Boeing 737 MAX. The American manufacturer's flagship plane has been grounded for almost a year after two deadly accidents in the near future. And Boeing had to resolve to suspend production in early January for an indefinite period.

With 225,000 jobs created in January, the economy is still showing dynamism since the monthly average was 175,000 last year. And if this pace continues, the unemployment rate should decrease in the coming months.

Regarding wages, one of the elements particularly scrutinized by economists, they rose 0.25% after + 0.1% in December.

Compared to January 2019, they even increased by 3.1%, a rate much higher than that of inflation (+ 2.3% in December according to the PCI index).

This further increase in wages should help boost household confidence.

In January, the confidence index - already at a high level in December - improved, which should support household consumption, the traditional engine of growth for the world's largest economy.

"Against a background of fears of a recession due to the virus (which is raging in China), the solid job creation and the rise in wages in January seem to give a guarantee that the record economic expansion (of the United States) still has room to continue, "commented Lydia Boussour and Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics.

However, employers continue to face a volatile and uncertain global environment which, in a context of economic slowdown in the United States, should "encourage them to hire more cautiously" in the coming months, they analyze.

The White House host, who escaped this week's dismissal, said Friday that for the time being: "employment continues to be very good, our country continues to be very good".

© 2020 AFP