Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 517,000 in January as the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.4%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 185,000 jobs.
- In January, the unemployed population was little changed at 5.7 million but there were 11 million job openings in December.
- Leisure and hospitality added 128,000 jobs in January, employment in professional and business services rose by 82,000, government rose by 74,000, health care added 58,000 jobs, and retail trade added 30,000 jobs.
- In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.10 to $33.03.
- The average workweek for all private employees rose by 0.3 hours to 34.7 hours.
- The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.4% and is 0.9% below its February 2020 level.