Employers added 353K jobs in January, including 4,100 in accounting

Employment rose by 353,000 jobs in the first month of the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, far surpassing most economists’ expectations, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7%.

Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January, considerably more than the average monthly increase of 14,000 jobs last year. That included 4,100 jobs in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. The health care, retail trade and social assistance sectors also saw strong job gains. 

Average hourly earnings rose 19 cents, or 0.6%, to $34.55 in January, while over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 4.5%. Along with pay gains, employees are working somewhat shorter hours. The average workweek declined by 0.2 hour to 34.1 hours in January and is down by half an hour over the course of the year. 

Along with the rosy picture for January, the BLS also revised upward the job numbers for November and December.  The numbers for November went up 9,000, from a gain of 173,000 to 182,000 jobs, and the change for December was revised up by 117,000, from 216,000 to 333,000 jobs. With both revisions, employment in November and December combined was 126,000 jobs higher than previously reported. 

“America’s economy is the strongest in the world,” said President Biden in a statement Friday. “Today, we saw more proof, with another month of strong wage gains and employment gains of over 350,000 in January, continuing the strong growth from last year. Our economy has created 14.8 million jobs since I took office, unemployment has been under 4% for two full years now, and inflation has been at the pre-pandemic level of 2% over the last half year.”

Despite the encouraging news from the BLS, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday that U.S.-based employers announced 82,307 job cuts in January, a 136% increase from the 34,817 cuts announced in the previous month. However, that was down 20% from the 102,943 cuts announced in January 2023. Financial companies announced the most job cuts in January with 23,238, the highest monthly total for the sector since September 2018, when 27,343 cuts were announced. The technology sector followed with 15,806, the most since May 2023, when 22,887 cuts were announced, and up 254% from the 4,470 cuts announced in the tech sector in December.