U.S. employers hired at a rapid pace late last year and in January, bolstering the economy in the face of the Omicron wave of Covid-19 and staffing shortages.

Payrolls, change since January 2020Source: U.S. Labor DepartmentNote: Seasonally adjusted
January: +467,000 jobs2020’21’22-25-20-15-10-50million

Unemployed and those not in the labor force,​change from January 2020Source: Labor DepartmentNote: Seasonally adjusted
2020’21’2205101520millionUnemployedPeople not​in the labor​force

The U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said Friday. Job growth in November and December combined was about 700,000 higher than previously reported. Overall, the robust job gains this winter signal that hiring demand continued to be high as Delta and Omicron cases surged.

“We’re seeing a more resilient, more prepared U.S. labor market than we’ve seen in the past,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America.

U.S. stocks moved higher and government bond yields climbed sharply after the better-than-expected jobs report.

January payrolls might have been stronger if not for the surge in Omicron cases. The Labor Department said nearly two million workers were prevented from looking for a job last month because of the pandemic. And the number of Americans who said they were unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic nearly doubled in January from December.

The unemployment rate rose slightly in January to 4% from 3.9% in December, with more people joining the workforce. Historically low joblessness is helping spur wage growth. Wages climbed 5.7% in January from a year earlier, nearly double the average of about 3% before the pandemic hit.

Workers have more incentive to return to the labor market than they did a year ago due to the prospect for a bigger paycheck, a rundown in pandemic savings and an improving health situation. The labor-force participation rate, or the share of the population working or seeking a job, rose to 62.2% last month, the highest level since the pandemic hit in early 2020. The Labor Department attributed the increase to the introduction of new population estimates with January’s data.

Employers added 6.67 million jobs last year, or just over 200,000 more positions than previously reported for 2021, according to annual revisions released in Friday’s report.