Feb. 2 (UPI) — U.S. job creation grew in January and far exceeded expectations, according to a Friday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The monthly employment situation summary showed the United States added 353,000 non-farm payroll jobs to start 2024, with an unemployment rate of 3.7%.
The BLS noted job growth in professional and business services, healthcare, retail and social assistance, while employment growth fell in mining, quarrying and the oil and gas industry.
Some 74,000 jobs were created in professional and business services while 70,000 healthcare jobs were added.
Retail trade jobs increased by 45,000 in January and social assistance jobs were up by 30,000. Manufacturing posted job gains of 23,000.
Government employment was up 36,000, lower than the 57,000-a-month average gains in 2023 in that sector.
Economists were expecting 185,000 jobs to be created in January with unemployment edging up to 3.8%.
But January’s numbers were far stronger, exceeding even the revised December 2023 job creation total of 333,000, which also surpassed what economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting.
Ahead of the jobs report, Treasury yields for 10-year notes were two points higher at 3.88% Friday, while 2-year Treasury notes were 3.5 basis points higher at 4.23%.
Friday’s numbers include government jobs, while reports compiled by ADP reflect private sector jobs created among clients of the payroll company. ADP said 107,000 private jobs were added in January.
According to ADP, private sector job growth declined in January.
