Jobs growth, higher wages mark start as US cuts labour-market slack

The year 'is getting off to a good start,' said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co

The U.S. labor market began 2018 on a strong note as Americans saw wage gains accelerate amid better-than-expected hiring, raising hopes that a long-overdue pickup in worker pay is finally in train.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 200,000 in January, exceeding the median estimate of economists for a 180,000 increase, Labor Department data showed Friday, as the jobless rate held at a near 17-year low of 4.1 percent. Average hourly earnings rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, the most since June 2009.

Stocks plunged by the most since 2016, as the data reinforced the Federal Reserve’s outlook for three interest-rate hikes