Hopes the Federal Reserve can tame inflation without widespread job losses mounted Friday after a government report showed robust hiring and a historically low unemployment rate paired with a cooling in wage growth.
In some respects, the December jobs report offered a best-case scenario for the Fed — Americans keep their jobs but inflationary pressures of earnings are easing — giving policymakers room to slow the pace of interest-rate hikes.
Most economists anticipate the Fed’s aggressive tightening to push the economy into recession in the next year and for unemployment to rise to some degree. Last month’s trends, if sustained for several months, mitigate the chances of an economic downturn — at least for now.
