WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added 353,000 jobs in January despite a wave of recent layoffs by big companies, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.
Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, retail trade, and social assistance, the report noted. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.
Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January, considerably higher than the average monthly increase of 14,000 jobs in 2023. Employment in health care rose by 70,000. Retail trade employment increased by 45,000 in January but has shown little net growth since early 2023. Employment in social assistance rose by 30,000 in January.
Employment in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry declined by 5,000 in January, following little net change in 2023.
Total non-farm payroll employment rose by an upwardly revised 333,000 in December. Payroll employment increased by an average of 255,000 per month in 2023, the report noted.
"In addition to the solid number of jobs added, employment gains broadened across industries in January," Sarah House and Michael Pugliese, economists at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in an analysis.
"Today's employment report reinforces the view that a March rate cut is not in the cards," they said.
Noting that the labor market remained strong, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that "if we saw an unexpected weakening in the labor market, that would certainly weigh on cutting sooner."
Despite continued job growth, a number of companies across the tech, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts in 2023, and a few more have announced plans for cuts this year, which could weaken the labor market going forward.
Google, for example, has reportedly laid off hundreds of workers in its assistant and hardware divisions, among others. Amazon is letting go of hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions to refocus on more profitable products.
Department store chain Macy's recently announced that it was planning to lay off about 13 percent of its corporate staff and close five stores, with job cuts totaling about 2,350 positions.
Citi said it would cut 20,000 jobs over the medium term, which accounts for 10 percent of its workforce.
