U.S. employers added 143,000 jobs in January, with the unemployment rate decreasing slightly to 4.0%, according to preliminary data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday.
The number of jobs created last month was below the average monthly gain of 166,000 jobs throughout 2024. The healthcare sector saw the largest gains with an increase of 44,000 jobs, followed by retail trade with 34,000 and social assistance with 22,000. Government employment also rose by 32,000 positions.
Conversely, employment in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry fell by 8,000 jobs. Other major industries such as construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information services, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality showed little significant change.
Additionally on Friday, BLS revised its previously released preliminary data for November and December upward by a combined total of 100,000 jobs. The November figure was adjusted up by 49,000 to reach a total of 261,000 jobs while December's count increased by 51,000 to total 307,000.
In January the average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.17 or 0.5% reaching $35.87 per hour. Over the past year these earnings have grown by an overall rate of 4.1%.
Both the labor force participation rate at 62.6% and the employment-to-population ratio at 60.1% remained unchanged in January after adjustments for annual population controls were made; both measures have shown little fluctuation in recent months.
The labor force participation rate reflects the percentage of working-age individuals who are employed or actively seeking work while the employment-to-population ratio indicates how many people are employed relative to the entire working-age population within a region.
