Payroll employment rises by 143,000 in January; unemployment rate edges down to 4.0%

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, and the unemployment rate edged
down to 4.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred
in 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.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate edged down to 4.0 percent in January, after accounting for the annual
adjustments to the population controls. The number of unemployed people, at 6.8 million,
changed little over the month. (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 (3.7 percent), adult women
(3.7 percent), teenagers (11.8 percent), Whites (3.5 percent), Blacks (6.2 percent), Asians
(3.7 percent), and Hispanics (4.8 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 1.4 million,
changed little in January. The long-term unemployed accounted for 21.1 percent of all
unemployed people. (See table A-12.)

In January, both the labor force participation rate (62.6 percent) and the employment-
population ratio (60.1 percent) were unchanged, after accounting for the annual adjustments
to the population controls. Both measures have been relatively flat in recent months. (See
table A-1. For additional information about the effects of the population adjustments, see
table C.)

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.5 million, changed little
in January. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but 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 5.5 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, at 1.6 million, was essentially unchanged 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, changed little at 592,000 in January. (See Summary table A.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, similar to the average monthly
gain of 166,000 in 2024. In January, job gains occurred in 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.)

Health care added 44,000 jobs in January, with gains in hospitals (+14,000), nursing and
residential care facilities (+13,000), and home health care services (+11,000). Job growth in
health care averaged 57,000 per month in 2024.

Employment in retail trade increased by 34,000 in January. Job gains occurred in general
merchandise retailers (+31,000) and furniture and home furnishings retailers (+5,000).
Electronics and appliance retailers lost 7,000 jobs. Retail trade employment had shown little
net change in 2024.

Social assistance added 22,000 jobs in January, led by individual and family services
(+20,000). Employment also rose in the community food and housing, emergency, and other relief
services industry (+4,000). Employment in social assistance grew by an average of 20,000 per
month in 2024.

Government employment continued to trend up in January (+32,000), similar to the average 
monthly gain in 2024 (+38,000).

Employment in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry declined by 8,000
over the month, following little net change in 2024. In January, the job loss was concentrated
in support activities for mining (-8,000).

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

In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 17
cents, or 0.5 percent, to $35.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have
increased by 4.1 percent. In January, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and
nonsupervisory employees rose by 16 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $30.84. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to
34.1 hours in January. In manufacturing, the average workweek was little changed at 40.0 hours,
and overtime was unchanged at 2.8 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 49,000, from
+212,000 to +261,000, and the change for December was revised up by 51,000, from +256,000 to
+307,000. With these revisions, employment in November and December combined is 100,000 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.)