Payroll employment rises by 353,000 in January; unemployment rate remains at 3.7%

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 in January, and the unemployment rate 
remained at 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains 
occurred in professional and business services, health care, retail trade, and social 
assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction
industry.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey 
measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. 
The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry.
For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two 
surveys, see the Technical Note.

  _________________________________________________________________________________________ 
 |											   |
 |                        Changes to The Employment Situation Data                         |
 |                                                                                         |
 | Establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the annual benchmarking      |
 | process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors. Also, household survey data    |
 | for January 2024 reflect updated population estimates. See the notes at the end of this |
 | news release for more information.                                                      |
 |_________________________________________________________________________________________|


Household Survey Data

In January, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent for the third month in a row, and 
the number of unemployed people was little changed at 6.1 million. (See table A-1. 
See the note at the end of this news release and tables B and C for more information
about annual population adjustments to the household survey estimates.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.6 percent),
adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (10.6 percent), Whites (3.4 percent), Blacks 
(5.3 percent), Asians (2.9 percent), and Hispanics (5.0 percent) showed little or 
no change in January. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.3
million, was little changed in January. The long-term unemployed accounted for 
20.8 percent of all unemployed people. (See table A-12.)

The labor force participation rate, at 62.5 percent, was unchanged in January, and 
the employment-population ratio, at 60.2 percent, was little changed. These measures
showed little or no change over the year. (See table A-1.)

In January, the number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.4 
million, changed little. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time 
employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they 
were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)

The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 5.8 
million, was little changed in January. These individuals were not counted as 
unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks 
preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people 
marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.7 million in January.
These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job 
sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks 
preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the 
marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them,
increased to 452,000 in January. (See Summary table A.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 in January, similar to the gain 
of 333,000 in December. Payroll employment increased by an average of 255,000 
per month in 2023. In January, job gains occurred in professional and business 
services, health care, retail trade, and social assistance. Employment declined
in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry. (See table B-1. 
See the note at the end of this news release and table A for more information about
the annual benchmark process.)

Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January, considerably 
higher than the average monthly increase of 14,000 jobs in 2023. Over the 
month, professional, scientific, and technical services added 42,000 jobs. 
Employment in temporary help services changed little over the month (+4,000) 
but is down by 408,000 since reaching a peak in March 2022.

In January, employment in health care rose by 70,000, with gains in ambulatory
health care services (+33,000), hospitals (+20,000), and nursing and residential
care facilities (+17,000). Job growth in health care averaged 58,000 per month
in 2023.

Retail trade employment increased by 45,000 in January but has shown little net 
growth since early 2023. Over the month, general merchandise retailers added 
24,000 jobs, while electronics and appliance retailers lost 3,000 jobs.

Employment in social assistance rose by 30,000 in January, reflecting continued
growth in individual and family services (+22,000). Employment in social 
assistance grew by an average of 23,000 per month in 2023.

Employment in manufacturing edged up in January (+23,000), with job gains in 
chemical manufacturing (+7,000) and printing and related support activities 
(+5,000). Manufacturing experienced little net job growth in 2023.

Government employment continued to trend up in January (+36,000), below the 
average monthly gain of 57,000 in 2023. A job gain occurred in federal
government (+11,000), and employment continued to trend up in local government,
excluding education (+19,000). 

In January, employment in information continued its upward trend (+15,000). 
Employment in motion picture and sound recording industries increased by 
12,000, while employment in telecommunications decreased by 3,000. Overall, 
employment in the information industry is down by 76,000 since a recent peak
in November 2022.

Employment in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry 
declined by 5,000 in January, following little net change in 2023. Over the 
month, a job loss in support activities for mining (-7,000) was partially 
offset by a job gain in oil and gas extraction (+2,000).

Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, 
including construction, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, 
financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and other services.

In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls rose by 19 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $34.55. Over the past 12 months,
average hourly earnings have increased by 4.5 percent. In January, average 
hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose
by 13 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $29.66. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by
0.2 hour to 34.1 hours in January and is down by 0.5 hour over the year. In
manufacturing, the average workweek was unchanged at 39.8 hours, and overtime 
edged down by 0.1 hour to 2.7 hours. The average workweek for production and 
nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.2 hour to
33.5 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised up by 
9,000, from +173,000 to +182,000, and the change for December was revised up by 
117,000, from +216,000 to +333,000. With these revisions, employment in November
and December combined is 126,000 higher than previously reported. (Monthly 
revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government
agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of 
seasonal factors. The annual benchmark process also contributed to the November 
and December revisions.)

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The Employment Situation for February is scheduled to be released on Friday,
March 8, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).


                  Revisions to Establishment Survey Data


In accordance with annual practice, the establishment survey data released 
today have been benchmarked to reflect comprehensive counts of payroll jobs 
for March 2023. These counts are derived principally from the Quarterly 
Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which counts jobs covered by the 
Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax system. The benchmark process results in 
revisions to not seasonally adjusted data from April 2022 forward; seasonally 
adjusted data from January 2019 forward are subject to revision. In addition, 
data for some series prior to 2019, both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted,
incorporate other revisions.

The seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment level for March 2023 was 
revised downward by 266,000. On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the total 
nonfarm employment level for March 2023 was revised downward by 187,000, or 
-0.1 percent. Not seasonally adjusted, the absolute average benchmark revision
over the past 10 years is 0.1 percent. 

The over-the-year change in total nonfarm employment for March 2023 was revised 
from +4,048,000 to +3,836,000 (seasonally adjusted). Table A presents revised
total nonfarm employment data on a seasonally adjusted basis from January to 
December 2023.

All revised historical establishment survey data are available on the BLS website at
www.bls.gov/ces/data/home.htm. In addition, an article that discusses the benchmark 
and post-benchmark revisions and other technical issues is available at 
www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.