January saw the total nonfarm payroll rise by 225,000, which is a notable increase as compared to last month. However, there was a very slight change in the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 3.6%. The unemployment rate for December was 3.5% respectively.
Major Ups and Downs in January
The U.S Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported notable job gains in the fields of construction, healthcare, transportation, and Warehousing. Employment in the construction sector grew by 44,000, and most of the hiring took place in the residential and non-residential verticals.
The health care sector also saw a significant increase by adding 36,000 jobs in January. Notable job gains took place in the ambulatory health care services and the hospital vertical.
Transportation and Warehousing saw an increase of 28,000 jobs in January. Significant job gains took place in the couriers’ sector and the Warehousing and storage vertical.
The leisure and hospitality sector continued to grow, adding 36,000 jobs in January. The professional and business industry was also on an upward growth cycle sector adding 21,000 jobs in January.
Establishment Survey Data
The average hourly earnings for January for those who were on private nonfarm payrolls grew by 7 cents and currently stands at $28.44. All individual nonfarm employees’ average workweek did not change and therefore stands at 34.3 hours in January.
January saw a very slight change to all persons who were marginally connected to the labor force, which currently stands at 1.3 million.
There was a very slight change in the number of people who were employed part-time for economic reasons, which stands at 4.2 million.
Household Survey Data
| Workers Group | Unemployment Rate |
| Adult Men | 3.3 percent |
| Adult Women | 3.2 percent |
| Teenagers | 12.2 percent |
| White Population | 3.1 percent |
| Black Population | 6.0 percent |
| Asian population | 3.0 percent |
| Hispanics | 4.3 percent |
There was an increase in the unemployment rate as compared to last month for adult men, which currently stands at 3.3 percent. The unemployment rate for adult women remains the same as the previous month. There was a decrease of 0.6 percent for the teenage unemployment rate in January.
The white population unemployment rate decreased, by 0.1 as compared to the previous month. The black population unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent; the Asian unemployment rate grew by 0.5 percent. The unemployment rate for the Hispanic population grew by 0.1 percent.
Final Analysis
The construction sector added around 12,000 jobs per month last year. Whereas the healthcare sector added 361,000 jobs last year alone. There was a significant increase in the transport and Warehousing sector last year as 106,000 jobs were added.
The professional and business services added 390,000 jobs alone last year. January has been a good month for all job seekers on the whole. With such steady growth, 2020 is sure to see more jobs being created.