Blog
Unemployment Rate Falls, Despite Slow Job Growth in January
February 5, 2021
After shedding jobs in December, growth returned to the U.S. labor force last month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 49,000 in January, according to the Labor Department. This was just shy of the 50,000 economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected. December’s losses were worse than initially though, with the month’s losses revised to 227,000 instead of the initial estimate of 140,000.
Despite the modest job growth, the unemployment rate continued its steady, if gradual, decline. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.7%. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold steady. The drop is partially due to a decline in the labor force participation rate, which fell to 61.4% as 406,000 workers left the workforce.
