The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will be releasing its report today on
the employment situation in January. The hiring in the country is likely to have
remained strong, while the underutilization of labor resources is expected to
have declined. Also, wage growth is likely to have accelerated in the reference
period. The upcoming BLS report is expected to support the case of further
tightening of the policy in 2016.The January nonfarm payrolls is likely to have grown by 245,000, slightly lower than Q4's 284,000-job pace. Unemployment is expected to have narrowed at the start of 2016, leaving the civilian jobless rate at 4.9% level. The average hourly earnings likely rose by 0.4% in January, the largest rise since August.