Employment Outlook Preview: January 2006

That's right, folks. It's already time for the first month's employment numbers. I received the email from the Labor Department an hour ago and have looked over the numbers ... they couldn't be better. Well, perhaps unless you think like former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who believes this is one of the worst economies since the Great Depression.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics's January 2006 Employment Situation (PDF file):

• Nonfarm payroll employment: +197,000
• Unemployment rate: 4.7% (-0.2%)
• Average hourly earnings: $16.41 (+$0.07)

Bloomberg is already reporting that the Fed may raise interest rates due to the response of Treasury notes in the early hours ... No surprise here, UPI is reporting the numbers as "less than expected" even though the past two months of figures have been revised up (108,000 to 140,000 for November and 305,000 to 354,000 in December).

Stay tuned for more updates and analysis ...