White House says jobs report smashes concerns about shutdown’s impact on economy

President Trump and his team celebrated another strong jobs report Friday that showed the economy zooming past concerns about the impact of the 35-day government shutdown.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers said although the unemployment rate rose slightly in January because of the partial government shutdown, employment “remained at a historically impressive 4 percent — the 11th consecutive month at or below” that level.

CEA noted that average hourly earnings rose by 3.2 percent over the past 12 months. It was the sixth straight month that year-over-year wage gains were at or above 3 percent, well above inflation.

Noting the stock market’s recovery so far in 2019, the president tweeted Friday, “Best January for the DOW in over 30 years. We have, by far, the strongest economy in the world!”

U.S. financial markets were up again in Friday morning trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising more than 170 points by mid-morning on the strong jobs report. The U.S. and China also expressed cautious optimism in talks this week about reaching a comprehensive trade deal before a March 1 deadline for U.S. tariffs to rise.

Employers added 304,000 jobs in January, surging past expectations and helping to dispel concerns about the impact of the shutdown. The Congressional Budget Office had said this week that the economy would likely lose 0.4 percent of growth in the first quarter because of the shutdown that caused 800,000 federal employees not to be paid.

Presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said employers in January were “crushing expectations.”

“The economy is hot,” she tweeted. “The American worker is winning!”

The manufacturing sector, a key target of Mr. Trump’s policies, added about 13,000 jobs in January to add to the industry’s steady gains over the past two years.

National Association of Manufacturers chief economist Chad Moutray said the report “shows that manufacturers are keeping their promise to hire more workers and raise wages in the wake of tax and regulatory reform.”

He said further action in Washington, such as congressional approval of the U.S-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, “will give manufacturing the confidence and certainty it needs to continue the strong growth of the past two years.”