A “Help Wanted” sign hangs in restaurant window in Medford
Reuters

The United States economy added 143,000 non-farm payroll jobs in January, lower than expected.

Analysts had expected 169,000 jobs to be added.

The unemployment rate fell to 4% and stool at 6.8 million.

Job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, and social assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industries.

The Labor Bureau released the monthly report on Friday morning.

It found that in January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 17 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $35.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have
increased by 4.1 percent.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to
34.1 hours in January, the report found.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised up by 49,000, from
+212,000 to +261,000, and the change for December was revised up by 51,000, from +256,000 to
+307,000.

That means the economy added an extra 100,000 jobs than previously reported.

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