Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143k; Unemployment rate edged down to 4%
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, and social assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.5 million, changed little in January. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 5.5 million, was little changed in January. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.6 million, was essentially unchanged in January. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, changed little at 592,000 in January.
INDUSTRY FOCUS
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, similar to the average monthly gain of 166,000 in 2024. In January, job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, and social assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.
- Health care added 44,000 jobs in January, with gains in hospitals (+14,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+13,000), and home health care services (+11,000). Job growth in health care averaged 57,000 per month in 2024.
- Employment in retail trade increased by 34,000 in January. Job gains occurred in general merchandise retailers (+31,000) and furniture and home furnishings retailers (+5,000). Electronics and appliance retailers lost 7,000 jobs. Retail trade employment had shown little net change in 2024.
- Social assistance added 22,000 jobs in January, led by individual and family services (+20,000). Employment also rose in the community food and housing, emergency, and other relief services industry (+4,000). Employment in social assistance grew by an average of 20,000 per month in 2024.
- Government employment continued to trend up in January (+32,000), similar to the average monthly gain in 2024 (+38,000).
- Employment in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry declined by 8,000 over the month, following little net change in 2024. In January, the job loss was concentrated in support activities for mining (-8,000).
- Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services.