New Jobs Report Lower Than Expected

The new unemployment report is out, and the gist seems to be: lower than expected but still solid, reports the Washington Post.

• Hiring: Employers added 143,000 jobs in January, below expectations of 169,000, reports CNBC.
• Unemployment: The rate fell to 4% from 4.1%, though it had been expected to remain unchanged.
• Context: The figure is down from the 186,000 a month average in 2024, per the AP, and from the revised figure of 307,000 in December.
• Markets: Investors didn't seem fazed one way or the other, though all the major indexes moved modestly lower after the report's release. Dow futures were down about 50 points in the first few minutes afterward.

• One view: "With inflation at least for now at tolerable levels and firms very comfortable making sustained investment, there's no reason why we shouldn't continue to see job growth around 150,000 per month, which is the upper end of what's needed to keep the labor market stable," Joseph Brusuelas of RSM tells CNBC. "In other words, we're at full employment. This is a good problem to have."
• Wildcards: This month's number may have some anomalies because of the wildfires in Los Angeles and frigid weather in the Midwest and the East, per the New York Times. Annual revisions to jobless data also factored into things. Going forward, mass federal layoffs and uncertainty over tariffs and a potential trade war could affect future counts.

(More jobs report stories.)