January job growth numbers strong
The U.S. economy picked up 257,000 jobs in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday in its widely watched monthly report.
Adding to the signs that the economy is strengthening, December’s job-gain figure of 252,000 was dramatically revised upward to 329,000.
Also, average hourly earnings rebounded in January, rising 12 cents to $24.75, following a decrease of 5 cents in December. Over the year, average hourly earnings for employees on private, nonfarm payrolls rose 2.2 percent, the BLS said.
For private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, average hourly wages increased a mere 7 cents - less than half of 1 percent - to $20.80.
Despite the job gains in January, the nation’s unemployment rate changed little, rising to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent in December.
The unemployment rate has shown no net change since October, the BLS said. The number of unemployment people, 9 million, and the number of long-term unemployed – those jobless for at least 27 weeks – at 2.8 million also changed little in January. But over the past year, the number of long-term unemployed declined by 828,000.
January's job gains included 46,000 positions in the retail sector, 39,000 in construction, and 38,000 in health care. The average workweek remained at 34.6 hours.
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