Friday's jobs report could carry an inflationary surprise

Economists expect that 180,000 jobs were added in January and that wages grew at a slightly higher annual pace of 2.6 percent.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.1 percent. But that average hourly wage number within the monthly jobs report has a chance to surprise the market, and it is the one number that could trigger a jump in already rising interest rates.

The pace of wage growth is expected to accelerate, with a 0.3 percent increase in January, after a similar gain in December, according to Thomson Reuters. The January employment report will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists are forecasting a 0.3 percent gain, due to minimum wage increases in 18 states and a number of cities, as well as corporate wage hikes. But some economists do not see as much impact and have lower estimates for wage growth.

"We included some of the upside risk to our number from the minimum wage increases that went into effect Jan. 1 and corporate pay raises from tax reform. Some [minimum wages] were only adjusted for inflation. Those would have modest impact, but others were larger," said Joseph Song, senior U.S. economist at Bank of America.

J.P. Morgan economists expect 200,000 jobs and a 4 percent unemployment rate, but they see just a 0.2 percent rise in wages. They said minimum wage gains should have just a modest impact on national data. They also note one-time bonuses, distributed by a number of companies because of tax reform, will not show up in the data.