America's mind-blowing labor market

Why it matters: American workers — outside of a handful of sectors — are experiencing some of the most plentiful opportunities in generations — even as inflation has been coming down.

• That is a precarious balance (more on how the Fed might react below), but it is a remarkable state of affairs. The jobless recoveries of the early 2000s now look like ancient history.

The details: Economists expected jobs growth to decelerate, but instead it surged ahead, with an addition of more than half a million jobs (517,000) in January.

• The unemployment rate hit an ultra-low 3.4%. To find a water mark lower than that, you'd have to go all the way back to 1953.

State of play: The blowout job gains may be exaggerated by seasonal adjustments or other statistical quirks. But even if they are ultimately revised lower, a consistent message is being sent by labor data across the board with ultra-low jobless claims and rising numbers of job openings.

• The hiring slowdown that was supposed to come alongside the Fed's aggressive tightening has not materialized. It sets up something of a conundrum for officials.
• "It's difficult to see how wage pressures can possibly soften sufficiently when jobs growth is as strong as this," Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Global Investors, wrote in a note.
• "It's even more difficult to see the Fed stop raising rates and entertain ideas of rate cuts when there is such explosive economic news coming in."

Yes, but: For now, wage pressures appear to be flat or diminishing, contrary to what economic theory would predict in a booming job market. Rock-bottom unemployment paired with decelerating inflation is an economic dream scenario.

• Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in January, slowing slightly from December's upwardly revised 0.4% pace. Over the year through January, hourly earnings are up 4.4%.
• Over the last three months, wages rose at a 4.6% annual rate — on the high side of what the Fed would consider consistent with achieving its 2% inflation target, but not accelerating.

The intrigue: January is a notoriously difficult month to interpret jobs data, with annual adjustments made by the Labor Department — some of which are done to account for seasonal patterns.

• "We got a lot of these gains because employers kept on seasonal workers they would typically lay off," says Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG U.S. "This is a lot of labor hoarding, everywhere from leisure and hospitality to retail to construction."