The Federal Reserve’s decision to pledge patience on future interest-rate hikes amid a healthy economic expansion won validation from a jobs report that showed robust hiring and measured wage gains.
Hiring jumped by the most in almost a year, topping all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists, albeit after a downward revision to the prior month, a Labor Department report showed Friday. While pay increases cooled from December, annual gains firmed up in recent months without signaling major inflation pressures that would worry Fed officials.
