The U.S. economy gained 353,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
January's biggest job gains were in professional and business services (+74,000), health care (+70,000), retail trade (+45,000), social assistance (+30,000), manufacturing (+23,000), government (+36,000), and information (+15,000). Employment declined in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (-5,000). Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and other services.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for teenagers (10.6%), Black Americans (5.3%), Hispanics (5.0%), adult men (3.6%), White Americans (3.4%), adult women (3.2%), and Asian Americans (2.9%), showed little or no change in January.
The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or longer) was little changed in January and accounted for 20.8% of the total number of people unemployed.