The economy | The US labor market unexpectedly strengthened in December

of the United States the surprising strengthening of the labor market in December curbs the central bank's need to ease monetary policy in the coming months.

The US Department of Labor said on Friday that the number of employed people increased by 216,000 in December, while economists predicted an increase of 170,000.

Due to the increase in the number of employed people, the central bank does not necessarily need to raise the key interest rate very soon. Especially when the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent in December.

Shortly after the publication of the employment data, financial markets interpreted that the probability of monetary policy easing in March has decreased.

The labor market development is one of the central barometers that the central bank monitors before its monetary policy decisions. Interest rate cuts would be favored if the growth in the number of employed people slowed down significantly or the unemployment rate rose clearly.

The labor force survey published on Friday also shows that wages rose by 4.1 percent in December from a year ago. The Central Bank has previously hinted that a wage increase of more than four percent is a bit too much.

Rising wages increase companies' labor costs, which is why they are under pressure to raise the prices of the goods and services they sell. This would be suitable for maintaining price pressure.

Central bank stopped the tightening of monetary policy in June, but continued it once in July. Since September, it has kept the policy rate unchanged in the range of 5.25-5.50 percent.

The rise in consumer prices, or inflation, slowed to 3.1 percent in November. According to the central bank's price stability goal, it should be an average of two percent over a long period of time.

In order to tame the rapid inflation, the central bank tightened the monetary policy 11 times within a year and a half.