Nonfarm employment increased by 353,000 in January, according to the latest BLS jobs report. The average job growth per month in 2023 was 255,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate held at 3.7% for the third consecutive month, with 6.1 million people counted as unemployed. The labor force participation rate was also unchanged at 62.5%.
Industries with the most job growth over the month included professional and business services (+74,000), health care (+70,000), and retail trade (+45,000). Temporary help services added just 4,000 jobs in January, leaving the industry 408,000 jobs below its peak level in March 2022.
The latest report also included upward revisions in total nonfarm payroll employment for the previous two months. November’s count was revised to +182,000 jobs, and the job count for December went up by 117,000 to +333,000.
