The US economy created 157.000 jobs in January, according to the Labour Ministry data. The number of new jobs created in December was revised to 196.000 from 155.000. The large gains in hiring in January took place in retail, construction, health care and wholesale trade. Employment was little changed in manufacturing and fell in government and transportation and warehousing.
The unemployment rate grew to 7.9% from 7.8% in December.
Average hourly wages got 4 cents higher, to 23.78 USD and the average workweek remained 34.4 hours. Hourly wages are up 2.1% over the past 12 months.