U.S. employers will put 353,000 workers on the payroll, the Labor Department announced Friday.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7% last month.
The figures for the previous two months have been revised upward. The November figure was revised upward by 9,000 to 182,000. The December figure was revised upward by a whopping 117,000 to 333,000.
Economists had expected the economy to grow by 185,000 jobs after it was reported that payrolls rose by 216,000 in December and 173,000 in November.
Employment increased by 105,000 people in October. Employer payrolls increased by 262,000 in September. Employment increased by 165,000 people in August.
The unemployment rate was expected to rise to 3.8%.
In total, more than 2.4 million jobs were added in 2023, the lowest since the end of the pandemic and Joe Biden took office. However, compared to pre-pandemic levels, this is a high level of job growth, much of it driven by sectors still rebuilding from lockdowns and mass layoffs caused by the pandemic. The last time the economy added this many jobs in a year was 1999.
Average hourly wages rose 0.6% for the month, twice as fast as expected, from 0.4% the previous month. Compared to a year ago, average hourly wages rose 4.5%. The Fed is likely to view this rate of wage growth as a risk of higher inflation.
The private sector added 317,000 jobs, far more than the 142,000 expected and the 164,000 originally reported in December. The number of private sector employees in December was revised upward to 278,000.
In the manufacturing sector, which has been struggling under the weight of rising interest rates, the increase was a very large 23,000, up from the upwardly revised 8,000 increase in December. Economists had expected only 5,000 jobs in January, compared to a preliminary estimate of 6,000 jobs in December.
