Vox Sentences - US jobs growth smashes expectations

The US economy saw strong jobs growth in January; the US discovered a suspected Chinese spy balloon over Montana.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The US added half a million jobs in January

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

• The US economy added a surprising 517,000 jobs in January, according to Labor Department data released Friday. [CNN / Alicia Wallace]
• The unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent — its lowest in decades — amid hiring surges in hospitality, professional, and business services, among other sectors. [NBC News / Jeff Cox, CNBC, and Brian Cheung]
• While good for workers, employers often raise wages when the labor market is tight, which can keep prices high. [NPR / Scott Horsley]
• The jobs growth comes despite the Federal Reserve aggressively hiking interest rates to cool the economy without causing a recession. [Associated Press / Paul Wiseman]
• Economists still predict a recession in 2023, but more job growth increases the chances the Fed can slow inflation without bringing the economy to a halt. [CNBC / Jeff Cox]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox's Madeleine Ngo explains why the Federal Reserve wants to slow down rapidly rising wages.  [Vox / Madeleine Ngo]

Alleged Chinese spy balloon flies across the US

• Friday, China flew a suspected spy balloon the size of two school buses at high altitudes over sensitive US military sites in Montana. [Associated Press / Matthew Lee]
• The discovery led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a diplomatic trip to China. Officials planned the meeting to ease tension with Beijing over Taiwan, trade, and other issues. [CBS News]
• President Joe Biden decided not to shoot down the balloon because of the risk fallen debris posed to the public. [NBC News / Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee]
• The US rejected China’s claim that the balloon was used for “meteorological” purposed and accidentally flew into US airspace. US officials are continuing to monitor the balloon and say it poses no risk. [New York Times / Katie Rogers]

A panel of federal appeals judges on Thursday cleared the way for domestic abusers in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to  legally own firearms. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

• Japanese revolving sushi restaurants are struggling to contain acts of “sushi terrorism” in which patrons post videos of themselves playing pranks with food and other items. [Guardian / Justin McCurry]
• Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is facing an ethics complaint after more than a dozen organizations asked for an investigation into her reported use of staff to run errands. [The Hill / Alexander Bolton]
• Authorities are working to identify three bodies found in an apartment building during the search for three Detroit-area rappers who went missing last month. [ABC News / Nadine El-Bawab]

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“Today’s jobs report is almost too good to be true. Like $20 bills on the sidewalk and free lunches, falling inflation paired with falling unemployment is the stuff of economics fiction.”

[Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, on the latest jobs data / CNBC]

Is America broken?

Sean Illing speaks with Alana Newhouse, the editor-in-chief of Tablet magazine about her recent essay on "brokenism," a term she coined in an effort to redefine political divisions in America. Newhouse argues that the most salient divide right now is between those who want to fix the institutions we have and those who want to burn it all down and start fresh.

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