“Now Hiring” signage past recruiters as they speak to jobseekers during the WorkSource North Seattle Career Fair in Seattle, Washington, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Job growth was stronger than expected to start 2026, providing some relief to concerns about the state of the U.S. labor market.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 for January, above the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 55,000, according to seasonally adjusted figures the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday. The total also was an improvement over December, which saw a gain of 48,000 after a slight downward revision.
The unemployment rate edged lower to 4.3%, below the forecast to stay unchanged at 4.4% from the prior month.
The report, delayed nearly a week by the partial government shutdown that ended Feb. 3, held consistent with a labor market in a low-growth mode, though with only scattered signs of increasing layoffs.
In addition to the monthly numbers, the BLS released final benchmark revisions for the year prior to March 2025. Those numbers saw the initial counts revised lower by a total 898,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was a bit lower than the 911,000 figure for the initial estimate last September but around Wall Street expectations.
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