US adds 304,000 jobs in January as employers shrug off government shutdown, new report says

The United States saw job growth for the 100th consecutive month in January, adding hundreds of thousands of jobs to payrolls as employers shrugged off the longest government shutdown in modern American history.

All told, employers added 304,000 jobs last month, a testament to the long economic expansion that has been seen since the 2008 recession.

The jobs numbers beat out private analyst expectations, and the average growth seen in 2018 when 223,000 were picked up each month on average.

While the US economy enjoyed yet another month of jobs growth, the unemployment ticked up slightly, according to the jobs report issued by the Labour Department on Friday.

“JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” Donald Trump tweeted on Friday after the report was released, accompanied by a news story about the better than expected job growth.

Before the release on Friday, private economists surveyed by the Dow Jones had predicted a jobs increase of about 170,000 jobs, and that the unemployment rate would not change. The Labor Department pinned the unemployment rate at 3.9 per cent in its December report.

The new report also revised its December jobs numbers to 222,000 jobs. That’s a drop from the original figures showing 312,000 jobs added. The November jobs rate had also been revised, to 176,000 jobs.

“Certainly, the economy has slowed, and that will undoubtedly be apparent in other data in the coming weeks. Still, the jobs market remains a bright spot,” Jim Baird, chief investment officer for Plante Moran Financial Advisors, said in a note provided to CNBC after the report was released. “Employers are still hiring at a strong pace. That’s good news for the consumer sector, and ultimately good news for the economy”.

The jobs growth in January occurred in several different sectors, with the most jobs added in the leisure and hospitality category, with 74,000 jobs there. The construction sector added 52,000, and retail added 21,000 jobs. Another 13,000 jobs were added to the manufacturing sector.

But, while the jobs growth showed continued strength of the US economy, the Labor Department’s report indicated very little wage growth, with hourly earnings rising just three cents — 0.1 per cent, which fell below the 0.3 per cent gain expected. That amounts to a year-over-year gain of 3.2 per cent, which is consistent with the highest levels seen during the recovery and the past few months.