THE strength of the US economy created 271,000 new jobs last month, revealing a buoyant labour market, in stark contrast to Germany where unemployment is now at a post-war high. Labour Department figures for January, released yesterday, were sharply stronger than expectations on Wall Street, where analysts had foreseen an increase limited to 223,000.

Stock and bond dealers, ordinarily unnerved by a surge in job creation, reacted calmly to the report, notably as hourly wages increased by only one cent to $12.06 and as the overall jobless rate edged up to 5.4 per cent from 5.3 per cent in December.