Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 in January and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 185,000 jobs.
- The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised up by 9,000, from +173,000 to +182,000, and the change for December was revised up by 117,000, from +216,000 to +333,000. With these revisions, employment in November and December combined is 126,000 higher than previously reported.
- Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January, employment in health care rose by 70,000, retail trade employment increased by 45,000, government added 36,000 jobs, and employment in social assistance rose by 30,000.
- In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.19 to $34.55.
- The average workweek for all private employees fell by 0.2 hours to 34.1 hours in January.
- The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.5% and is 0.9% below its February 2020 level.
- In January, the unemployed population was unchanged at 6.2 million but job openings rose to 9.0 million in December.