Employers continued to hire in January, but continued to hire at a slower pace than the previous month. Employment benefits were concentrated in retail, healthcare and government. Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America Hide Caption
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America
Employers added fewer jobs in January than in the past two months as cold weather held up most of the country.
Employers added 143,000 jobs last month, according to a report from the Labor Bureau on Friday. This is a significant downshift since December, with revised figures showing employers more than doubled the number.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in January fell from 4.1% the previous month to 4%.
Last month’s employment profits were concentrated in retail, healthcare and government. Construction and manufacturing showed most employment growth in January, while bars and restaurants cut jobs by around 16,000.
The Labor Bureau says neither the Los Angeles wildfires nor the severe winter weather elsewhere have had a major impact on the job market.
Over the past three months, employers have added an average of 237,000 jobs per month. That robust growth, coupled with low unemployment, suggests that the Federal Reserve has little pressure to immediately lower interest rates.
The size of the workforce is larger than previously thought
The average wage in January increased by 4.1% from a year ago. Wages are rising faster than most of the two years.
Friday’s report also included routine annual revisions of previous job figures, based on more complete data from state tax records. The revision shows employers added about 2.3 million jobs in the 12 months that ended last March. This is 589,000 fewer than originally reported.
The Labor Bureau has also revised its population estimates upwards sharply to account for higher immigration over the past two years. The change has increased the estimated size of the workforce by 2.1 million people. The majority of foreign-born workers have allowed employers to continue to add jobs at a robust pace.
But economists say that could change given the strict new restrictions on immigration imposed by the Trump administration.
