Nonfarm payrolls increase above expectations

The U.S. Labor Department announced that nonfarm payrolls increased by 304,000 in January after a downwardly revised 222,000 gain in the prior month (originally an increase of 312,000). 

According to the report, employment rose in grew in several industries, including leisure and hospitality (+74,000 jobs), construction (+52,000), health care (42,000), and transportation and warehousing (27,000). There were no discernible impacts of the partial federal government shutdown on the estimates of employment, hours, and earnings from the establishment survey, the report added. 

At the same time, the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 4.0 percent in January, which was the highest jobless rate since June 2018. 

Economists had forecast 165,000 new jobs and the jobless rate to stay at 3.9 percent. 

The labor force participation rate rose to 63.2 percent in January from 63.1 percent in December, while hourly earnings for private-sector workers edged up 0.1 percent m-o-m (3 cents) to $27.56, following an unrevised 0.4 percent m-o-m gain in December. Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance in the average hourly earnings. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 85 cents or 3.2 percent. 

The average workweek was unchanged at34.5 hours in January, matching economist’s’ forecast.