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weak historically, below the an-nual growth of 3% or more seenbefore the recession. And previ-ous pickups have been followedquickly by a return to prior slug-gishness, including a wage de-cline in December.

But the latest improvementcomes amid other signs of di-minishing slack in the labormarket. More and more workersare quitting jobs for better ones,after years in which they settled

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and 2.2% over the past year. Thepickup, if sustained, would startto lift Americans’ living standardsafter years of income stagnation.

For the Federal Reserve, Fri-day’s report raised the likelihoodthat officials will move as earlyas June to raise short-term in-terest rates from near zero,where they have been since De-cember 2008. The Fed has beenlooking for momentum in hiringand wages to signal the labormarket has healed from the2007-09 recession and no longerneeds as much of the centralbank’s easy-money support.

January’s wage gains are still

previously sidelined Americanworkers to begin the job search,causing the unemployment rateto tick up a tenth of a percent-age point to 5.7%.

“The economy seems to bemoving full steam ahead,” saidSung Won Sohn, an economist atCalifornia State University Chan-nel Islands. Following years oflackluster growth, “I think it’s thebeginning of a healthy recovery.”

The report offered a tentativesign that U.S. workers are start-ing to extract higher wages fromtheir employers. Average hourlyearnings climbed 0.5% lastmonth—up 12 cents to $24.75—

The best three-month stretchof hiring since 1997 has posi-tioned the U.S. labor market tostart delivering stronger wagegrowth for a wider swath ofAmericans after more than fiveyears of sluggish recovery froma deep recession.

The economy created morethan a million jobs over the pastthree months, with a steadygain of 257,000 in January andsizable upward revisions toprior months’ figures, the LaborDepartment said Friday. Thehiring spree prompted many

WEEKEND

review

Brain,Heal Thyself

REVIEW offduty

SuperstarWines

OFF DUTY

n The U.S. economy createdmore than a million jobs overthe past three months, with again of 257,000 in January andupward revisions to prior fig-ures, the government said. A1n The hiring spree highlightsa dilemma for the Fed: Howhot can it let the job marketrun before raising rates? A2n Stocks ended lower in thewake of the jobs report, withthe Dow shedding 60.59points. Bond yields climbed. B5n J.P. Morgan’s hiring of aChinese government offi-cial’s son has drawn scrutinyfrom U.S. authorities. A1n TurboTax temporarilyhalted e-filing of state returnsafter a number of states spot-ted criminal attempts to obtainrefunds through its systems. A1nNBC launched an investiga-tion of news anchor BrianWil-liams stemming from his claimsabout an incident in Iraq. B1n China’s Sunshine Insur-ance Groupwill buy the Bacca-rat Hotel in NewYork City formore than $2million a room. B1n Chinese affiliates of theBig Four accounting firmswill pay $500,000 each to set-tle a dispute with the SEC. B2n An advisory group backedGoogle’s decision to applyEurope’s “right to be forgot-ten” ruling only in the EU. B4n Brazilian banker AldemirBendine was installed as thenew CEO of Petrobras. B3

What’sNews

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Business&Finance

World-Wide

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CONTENTSBooks................. C5-10,14Corporate News.. B3-4Food...................... D1-2,7-8Heard on Street.... B14In the Markets......... B5Letters to Editor... A10

Opinion..................... A9-11Sports........................... A12Stock Listings.. B12-13Style & Fashion... D3-4Travel.......................... D5-6Weather Watch...... B13Weekend Investor B7-9

s Copyright 2015 Dow Jones & Company.All Rights Reserved

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InsideNOONAN A11

RecriminationOver ISIS

Is Not a Plan

Greece warned it is oncourse to run out ofmoney

withinweeks if it doesn’t gainaccess tomore funds, effectivelydaring creditors to let it failand stumble out of the euro. A5n Talks between the leadersof Russia, France and Ger-many yielded no deal to endfighting in eastern Ukraine. A5n Houthi rebels dissolvedYemen’s parliament and saidthey would form a transi-tional administration. A6n Islamic State claimedthat an American femalehostage was killed by a Jor-danian airstrike in Syria. A6n Boko Haram insurgentsstormed across Nigeria’s bor-der into Niger before beingpushed back by airstrikes. A7n Somalia confirmed a high-ranking member of the al-Sha-baab militant group was killedby a U.S. strike last month. A6n A House panel said it willprobewhether theWhite Houseimproperly influenced the FCCon new broadband rules. A4n The FCC set opening bidssubstantially higher than pre-vious estimates for a comingauction of wireless airwaves. B4nTerminal operators at WestCoast ports said they wouldtemporarily suspend someoper-ations amid a labor dispute. A4n Flight data raised the pos-sibility that fuel to one engineof TransAsia Flight 235mayhave been cut off bymistake.A7

BY JOSH MITCHELL

Job Market Ripe for LiftoffBest Stretch of Hiring Since 1997 Suggests Stronger Wage Growth Ahead

The largest online tax-softwarecompany in the U.S. temporarilyhalted electronic filing of all statereturns after more than a dozenstates spotted criminal attempts toobtain refunds through its systems.

Intuit Inc., based in MountainView, Calif., said Friday that its Tur-boTax unit stopped transmittingstate e-filing tax returns Thursdayafter seeing attempts to use stolenpersonal information to file fraudu-lent returns for tax refunds.

The company said later Fridaythat it resumed state tax filings af-ter bolstering its “security mea-sures to combat the type of fraud-ulent tax activity that it is seeing.”The shutdown lasted about 24hours, according to the company.

Utah tax officials said 19 stateshave identified potential fraud is-sues, and state officials across theU.S. discussed the problem in con-ference calls Thursday and Friday.Alabama said it has identified asmany as 16,000 suspicious tax re-turns, while Minnesota said itstopped accepting individual taxreturns through TurboTax. The bandoesn’t include tax returns handledby professional tax preparers whouse products sold by Intuit.

Massachusetts and Vermontsaid they had temporarily stoppedissuing tax refunds in order tomake sure that payments go to le-gitimate recipients.

Intuit said it believes there hasbeen no breach of the company’scomputer systems. “The informa-tion used to file fraudulent returnswas obtained from other sources

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BY LAURA SAUNDERSAND KAREN DAMATO

TurboTaxPausesE-FilingsOn FraudConcerns

25

0

5

10

15

20

’10

Source: Labor Department The Wall Street JournalNote: All figures seasonally adjusted

Working Up MomentumIn the past three months, the U.S. economy added jobs at the fastest pace since 1997…

…as a higher share of working-age people have jobs, and job-seekers spend lesstime stuck in unemployment.

Monthly change in nonfarm payrolls

Employment-to-population ratios, by age Median duration of unemployment

500

–750

–500

–250

0

250

thousand

2000 ’10’05 ’151995

’102006 ’15 2006 ’15

82

72

74

76

78

80

%

25–3476.6%

35–4478.5%

45–5476.5%

Recessions

Three-month averageNov.–Jan. 336,000

January13.4

weeksApril 200913.1

weeks

Sept.–Nov. 1997: 386,000

Photo:

Luke

Sharrett/B

loom

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New

s

Harper LeeBombshell:How News ofBookUnfolded

When Andrew Nurnberg, aLondon-based literary agent,called a meeting with HarperCol-lins senior executive MichaelMorrison last October, the pub-lisher assumed they would havea routine chat about comingbook projects.

Instead, Mr. Nurnberg showedup on Oct. 27 at Mr. Morrison’s22nd-floor office in lower Man-hattan with a bombshell: He wasin possession of a photocopy of“Go Set a Watchman,” an originaltypewritten manuscript byHarper Lee, author of “To Kill aMockingbird.”

Mr. Morrison, president andpublisher of HarperCollins U.S.General Books Group, recalls be-ing “absolutely stunned,” accord-ing to Tina Andreadis, a Harper-Collins spokeswoman. The two

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BY JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERGAND LAURA STEVENS

HERMISTON, Ore.—This townof 17,000 on the eastern Oregonprairie is known throughout thePacific Northwest for its water-melons. In keeping with its juicypedigree, picturesof the fruit havebeen emblazonedon city businesscards, stationery—and even a giantwater tower—forthe better part oftwo decades.

So at a recentCity Council meet-ing, when the issueof rebranding thearea came up,some folks thought the idea wasrotten.

“Once we lose that identitywith the watermelon, what’snext?!” exclaimed 53-year-oldPerry Hawkins, expressing his

ire over a plan to paint over theiconic water tower.

A few years back, city leadersdetermined that Hermistonneeded to broaden its appeal be-yond melons—to change itsbrand identity, in the parlance of

public relations. Atask force was dulyempaneled. Thefruits of its labors:the erasure of themelon on the watertower last spring,and final approvalby city officialslast December ofHermiston’s newslogan: “You CanGrow Here.”

It’s a move thathas left many, like Mr. Hawkins,scratching their heads.

Cities and counties across theU.S. and Canada are joining thecorporate world in the branding

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BY JIM CARLTON

A Town Known for WatermelonsIs Suddenly Ripe for Change

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As Hermiston Seeks to Rebrand Itself,Some Doubt New Slogan Will Bear Fruit

Water tower’s old look

Hostage Death Claimed

MuellerFamily/R

euters

AID WORKER: Islamic State saidAmerican Kayla Mueller was killedin a Jordanian airstrike in Syria; U.S.officials expressed skepticism. A6

Gao Jue did poorly on his job interviews atJ.P. Morgan Chase & Co., he messed up hiswork visa, accidentally sent a sexually explicitemail to a human-resources employee and wasdescribed by a senior banker as “immature, ir-responsible and unreliable,” according to in-ternal bank emails and people familiar withthe matter.

Yet the bank hired him, saved him duringmajor job cuts and later was prepared to offerhim another position if he had responded totheir queries.

Mr. Gao is the son of China’s current com-merce minister, who, when his son faced a lay-off, said he would be willing to “go extramiles” for the bank if it kept him on, accord-ing to a J.P. Morgan executive’s email accountof a dinner with the father.

The bank’s decision to hire Mr. Gao waswidely understood within J.P. Morgan to have

FAVORED SON

Emails Track J.P. Morgan Hire in China

been supported by William Daley, a senior ex-ecutive at the time, according to the internalbank emails, which were reviewed by The WallStreet Journal. Mr. Daley is a former U.S. com-merce secretary and White House chief ofstaff.

The hiring has drawn scrutiny from U.S.prosecutors and regulators who are investigat-ing the Asian hiring practices of J.P. Morganand several other banks, according to peoplebriefed on the investigation. Mr. Gao’s namehasn’t previously been reported in connectionwith the hiring probe, which J.P. Morgan dis-closed in a 2013 regulatory filing. Hong Kongauthorities have also been investigating West-ern banks’ hiring practices.

J.P. Morgan hasn’t been accused ofwrongdoing in the investigation, which fo-cuses on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,a U.S. law that bars giving anything of valueto foreign government officials for a busi-ness advantage. Federal prosecutors inBrooklyn and Washington view Mr. Gao’s hir-ing as a potential violation because of indi-cations of some sort of quid pro quo involv-ing his father, combined with indicationsbankers saw the son as ill-qualified, the peo-ple briefed on the investigation said.

The Justice Department and the Securi-ties and Exchange Commission expect toreach a settlement with J.P. Morgan relatedto the U.S. antibribery law, these peoplesaid, likely involving a fine and a requiredoverhaul of hiring practices. Bringingcharges against any individuals would be

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By Ned Levin, Emily Glazerand Christopher M. Matthews

Decisions loom for Fed............. A2 Market reactions.......................... B5 Heard on the Street................. B14

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