Omicron variety created a significant speed bump in America's recovery. The first hints of a crisis could appear in Friday's jobs report.

Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN that the number of jobs added at the start of 2022 could be "unusually low" because of Omicron.

According to economists polled by Refinitiv, 150,000 new jobs were created in January. That would make it the worst report since the economy lost jobs in December 2020. Covid infections were also on the rise at the time.

However, a closer examination of the prediction reveals that many analysts expect employment losses: Goldman Sachs (GS) predicts a loss of 250,000 jobs, while Capital Economics and Jefferies (JEF) predicts a loss of 200,000 jobs.

The ADP Employment Report, which analyzes private payrolls, indicated an unexpected 301,000 job loss last month on Wednesday. Despite the fact that the ADP and government estimates are unrelated, the uncertainty regarding Friday's tally is growing.

In the last full week of January, claims for unemployment benefits improved slightly, according to data released on Thursday. Economists had projected that claims would be lower. Adjusted for seasonal variations, jobless claims stood at 238,000. According to the Labor Department, the number of Americans claiming benefits for at least two weeks fell to 1.6 million in the week ending January 22.

In December, the Omicron surge began. However, the entire impact will most likely be seen in the economic data for the first quarter of 2022.

The US economy added 199,000 jobs in December, according to the jobs report, but that was based on surveys completed before the Omicron wave picked up steam. As a result, economists believe that January will be worse.