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.

US jobs growth slowed in January, according to the latest official figures, but the rate of unemployment declined. Employers created 143,000 jobs last month, compared with analyst's forecasts of about 170,