Employment Up 143K Jobs in Jan., Unemployment Inched Down

Washington, DC, February 7, 2025-Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 in January, and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.0%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. 

Job gains occurred in healthcare, retail trade, and social assistance. 

Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “The gain in jobs was less than the 169,000 jobs that economists had expected, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. But the job counts for November and December were revised upward by a combined 100,000.

“The unemployment rate was below the 4.1% that had been expected.

“The jobs figures are the final report of the Biden era, and come as newly sworn-in President Trump rolls out policies likely to affect the labor market. He has promised to cut immigration and says he is launching the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, which could curtail growth in the labor force. JPMorgan analysts say that an immigration slowdown could ‘start to affect payroll growth soon, potentially by the time of the February jobs report.’”