Economy crushed expectations with 467,000 jobs in January despite omicron surge

The economy crushed expectations in January and added 467,000 jobs, a surprising and encouraging sign that the labor market pulled through the omicron surge relatively unscathed.

The job gains for the past two months were also revised up by 710,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, meaning that what had previously seemed like lackluster growth throughout the early winter was in fact robust.

The growth is particularly welcome news considering that it occurred despite the headwinds presented by the omicron variant, which suppressed commerce and kept millions of workers sick at home and technically unemployed.

"This was certainly not the downside surprise in payrolls that many were braced for. Quite the contrary," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. "Between the pick-up in wages, an improvement in labor force participation, and a much better-than-expected jump in employment, including upward revisions in previous months, this is a strong report. This is good news for workers and a sign that the economy is powering through the omicron wave."

Friday's report showed an increase in the labor force participation rate, which generated an uptick in the unemployment rate to 4%.

Economists feared that surging cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 would put a major damper on January’s report, given that people out sick without pay are counted among the unemployed, even though they still have jobs. The White House warned earlier this week that the report could be disappointing for that reason.