LinkUp Forecasting Solid Job Gains In January and Continued Strength In February

Just two weeks in, and yet, already…

Based on gains in new and total job openings on LinkUp in December, we are forecasting a net gain of 215,000 jobs for January.

Sustained strength in U.S. labor demand, combined with the fact that we’ve been in a full employment environment for nearly a year (since at least Q2 of last year), resulted in continued growth in LinkUp’s Job Duration metric as employers find it increasingly hard to find applicants for open positions. In January, LinkUp’s Job Duration rose from 47 days in December to 49 days, a pretty clear signal indicating continued growth in wages.

And based on job listing growth in January, we expect to see continued strength in job gains and wage increases throughout the entire labor market in February and perhaps even through at least the first quarter.

Of course, our bullish forecast for the U.S. labor market in the coming months assumes that the world doesn’t continue cratering at the rate it appears to be at the moment…