The US economy added a weaker-than-expected 111,000 new jobs in January, but hiring for the prior three months was stronger than earlier estimates, a government report today showed.
The bulk of the hiring took place in the service sector, which added 104,000 jobs, while the manufacturing sector posted its seventh straight monthly loss, the Labor Department said.
Wall Street analysts were expecting that the economy added 149,000 outside of the farming sector, and the smaller-than-expected gain helped move up the unemployment rate to 4.6 per cent, the highest since a matching rate in September of last year.
The department revised up its payroll total for the prior three months, with a gain of 206,000 jobs in December, initially reported as a gain of 167,000. It also raised its tally for November and October.
On the wage front, average earnings per hour rose by 0.2 per cent to $17.09, which was less than a gain of a 0.3 per cent forecast.