WASHINGTON, D.C. — Total nonfarm employment in the United States increased by 353,000 jobs in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This hike nearly doubled the increased predicted by Dow Jones economists, who forecasted an increase of 185,000 jobs, reports CNBC. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent for the third month in a row.
The BLS also made hefty revisions to its calculation of jobs gained in December 2023. The bureau revised December’s gains to 333,000, an increase of 117,000. The BLS also revised November jobs up by 9,000 jobs to 182,000. The average monthly gain in 2023 was 255,000.
Employment growth in January was led by the professional and business services sector, which added 74,000 jobs last month. This far exceeds the sector’s average monthly gain of 14,000 jobs in 2023. Other industries that saw increases in January include healthcare (70,000), retail trade (45,000), government (36,000), social assistance (30,000) and manufacturing (23,000). Employment declined in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction industry.
The better-than-expected jobs report comes on the heels of the U.S. economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) posting a 3.3 percent annualized growth rate in fourth-quarter 2023. CNBC reports that the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker is pointing toward a 4.2 percent annualized gain in GDP for first-quarter 2024.