Below, EPI economists offer their initial insights on the jobs report released this morning. The report showed an increase of 467,000 jobs in January—far exceeding expectations. 

From EPI senior economist, Elise Gould (@eliselgould):

Read the full Twitter thread here.

Omicron led to unprecedented levels of workers out sick in January. With 806k cases reported for the household survey reference week, it’s not surprising that the number of workers absent due to illness rose to 3.6 million in January. pic.twitter.com/HQOxi1nbEv

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) February 4, 2022

Another surprise in today’s report, given the rise in Omicron in January, was the solid increase in leisure and hospitality jobs, rising 151k in January. Surprising because leisure and hospitality has been affected most by the ebbs and flows of the pandemic.#jobsreport #jobsday pic.twitter.com/BBcEmJdQKd

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) February 4, 2022

Overall, employment remains 2.9 million (or 1.9%) below pre-pandemic conditions. Taking into account population growth since Feb 2020, the jobs shortfall is around 4.5 million. Given recent strong trends, that shortfall can be closed by the end of this year.#jobsreport #jobsday pic.twitter.com/zHPUOSpGwX

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) February 4, 2022

From EPI president, Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz):

Read the full Twitter thread here.

Over the last 12 months we’ve added 6.6 million jobs. REMEMBER THERE IS STILL A LONG WAY TO GO—depending on how you measure the counterfactual, the total gap in the labor market is somewhere between 5 and 7 million jobs. But that gap is closing fast. 2/

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) February 4, 2022

But one huge problem? There is a giant gap in state and local govt jobs—they are down 748,000 since Feb ‘20, with the majority of that, 389,000, in education. It’s crucial that S&L govts use their ARPA funds to raise pay and refill those jobs. 4/ https://t.co/OMkdI68j3D

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) February 4, 2022