The Labor Department has released its first jobs report of the year, covering January 2025. It shows that payrolls grew by 143,000 — somewhat lower than economists’ expectations of 175,000. On the other hand, payroll growth for the end of 2024 was revised up quite a bit. Over the past 3 months, payroll growth has averaged a very strong 234,000.

The US added 143,000 jobs in January, with a drop in unemployment. Find out why wage growth and job gains lead to a hawkish Fed outlook.

Consensus forecasts call for a still-robust 170,000 jobs added last month, though that’d be the lowest January total since 2018.