Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 304,000 jobs in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 100th straight month of employment gains. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4% from 3.9% in December.
Employment was up in several industries, including industries closely related to real estate. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 74,000 jobs in January, and construction employment rose by 52,000 jobs. The construction industry has added 338,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
Another upside surprise jobs day! Smoothing out noise, mnthly payrolls up big 241K over past 3 months; nom wg growth > inflation by > 1 ppt (ie, real gains); labor force still showing room-to-run, and all this w/out price pressures. The benefits of (near) full emp, people!!
— Jared Bernstein (@econjared) February 1, 2019
Another amazingly strong month for job growth--304K--compounds one of the biggest mysteries in the economy today: why does GDP growth appear to be slowing while job growth is picking up?
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) February 1, 2019
Unemployment rate edged up to 4.0%.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) February 1, 2019
Has fallen steadily for years. Maybe elevated from shutdown – some furloughed federal workers & out-of-work employees of federal contractors could drive tick up here. pic.twitter.com/KDR08lmYs2
Blockbuster job number distorted by workers forced to accept part time employment to make ends meet during government shutdown. A whopping half million more people forced into part time instead of full time for economic reasons in January.
— Diane Swonk (@DianeSwonk) February 1, 2019
Main takeaway: strong jobs growth numbers, but workers seem to have had to take on part-time work to make ends meet during the shutdown
— Martha Gimbel (@marthagimbel) February 1, 2019
Notably, last month’s unusually large gain in net jobs was revised down by 90,000, bringing December’s net job growth to 222,000, almost precisely in line with the newly benchmarked overall 2018 average (223,000).
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) February 1, 2019
Still, a two-month average of +263k jobs, at this stage of hte expansion, is muy bueno. https://t.co/QDiobpQTGD
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) February 1, 2019
The headline jobs number blew away projections, and yet the wage increases were less than expected & unemployment rate rose. https://t.co/mcK8Ha4Ltm The initial reaction from bond markets is that this is a positive report that slightly increases the odds of a rate hike. pic.twitter.com/DMQ6IPDjPM
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) February 1, 2019
Demographics time. With the huge caveat that this was one month and the trend is key, 25-34 women are still pouring back into the labor market. pic.twitter.com/492SnhLn9Z
— Jeanna Smialek (@jeannasmialek) February 1, 2019
Even in a month like this one...some industries suffer. Again we saw a lot of brick-and-retail store industries losing jobs. pic.twitter.com/HNwttpJ3ru
— Martha Gimbel (@marthagimbel) February 1, 2019
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