For the first time since President Joe Biden took office, the White House is bracing for negative job data.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is anticipated to disclose January data, which could indicate negative employment growth due to the omicron variation.
According to Biden’s staff, omicron difficulties prompted a big number of Americans to skip work this month, and the impacts of the variant will be brief.
While Biden’s approval rating has plummeted in the face of growing prices, a surge of migrants at the southern border, and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the employment market has remained one of the administration’s few bright spots.
In mid-January, the number of people infected with COVID-19 reached an all-time high. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highest seven-day average case count occurred on Jan. 15.
The number of hourly workers who were not paid because they were sick, quarantined, or their employer temporarily shut down will have an impact on job numbers. Seasonal workers were also laid off following the holidays.
FactSet, a financial data and software business, polled forecasters and found that only 162,500 jobs were expected to be added in January, the lowest level since December 2020. There was also concern that the figure may be substantially higher.
