Jobs Report: 227,000 New U.S. Jobs in January

The latest jobs numbers are out from the federal government. What do they mean for job seekers and employers? Here’s a quick take from Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain: This morning’s jobs report marks the first update on the nation’s job market under the new Trump Administration. It showed strong job growth of 227,000 new jobs—beating most analysts’ expectations—and an unemployment rate up slightly to 4.8 percent. Wages were up 2.5 percent year-over-year in today’s January BLS report. That’s down from 2.9 percent last month, and is well below the pace of Glassdoor’s Local Pay Reports. Glassdoor data show median U.S. pay for full-time workers grew by 3.2 percent from a year ago in January, reflecting today’s strong and growing labor market. The U.S. economy is riding a wave of bullish consumer sentiment right now—not uncommon following presidential elections in the past. That optimism likely fueled the rise in the labor force participation rate in January, which was up 0.2 percent to 62.9 percent. That rejoining of Americans to the labor market likely contributed to the slight increase in the official unemployment rate to 4.8 percent. The biggest job gains in January were in retail (+45,900 jobs), professional and business services (+39,000 jobs), construction (+36,000 jobs), leisure and hospitality (+34,000 jobs) and health care (+32,100 jobs). The biggest job losses were in government (-10,000 jobs), transportation and warehousing (-4,000 jobs) and non-durable goods manufacturing (-1,000 jobs). Today’s report was widely anticipated as a preview of job growth under the new administration, which has made jobs and pay gains a top campaign priority. However, technically today’s BLS survey is for the pay period containing the 12^th of the month, about a week before the Presidential inauguration. So it doesn’t likely reflect any actions since the Trump administration formally took office – something we’ll be watching for closely in the coming months. To speak with Dr. Andrew Chamberlain about today’s jobs report or to discuss labor market trends, contact pr at Glassdoor dot com. For the latest economics and labor market updates, follow @adchamberlain on Twitter and subscribe to Glassdoor Economic Research.