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 U.S. economy added fewer jobs in January than economists had forecast, although the jobless rate edged lower.

Weather conditions once again created significant headwinds for U.S. workers as job growth slowed more than expected in January. Employers added 143,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in January, according to the latest data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.