(Washington) US job creation jumped in January, even doubling from December, when a slowdown was expected, while the unemployment rate continued to decline, now falling to 3.4% , the Labor Department announced Friday.
517,000 jobs were created in the first month of 2023, compared to 260,000 in December, according to upwardly revised data also published on Friday. That thwarted analysts’ expectations for a slowdown to 187,000, according to Briefing.com’s consensus. The unemployment rate was expected to rise slightly, to 3.6%.