For those curious where the big jump in earnings came from, the answer appears rather simple: the reason, according to the BLS' breakdown of jobs added in January (per the Establishment survey), of the 151,000 jobs added in the past month, retail trade added 58,000 jobs in January, while employment in food services and drinking places, aka waiters and bartenders, rose by 47,000 in January. In other words, 70% of the job gains in January went to minimum wage workers.
So how does one explain the snap higher in January?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-05/dear-bls-explain
Dear BLS, Explain This
Factory orders are collapsing. Inventories are at recession cycle highs. Manufacturing ISM and PMIs are plunging... so Dear BLS, please explain the following chart?
ISM Manufacturing employment has crashed to cycle lows... BLS claims manufacturing added 29k jobs - the most in over a year...
Double-seasonally-adjusted, everything is awessome!! Just don't tell the real workers in real American factories.
Poster Comment:
Sometimes those estimated jobs just don't materialize.