January Job Growth in the U.S. Slowed, With Minor Employment Gains in the Entertainment Sector

In January, the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4% while job growth slowed to 143,000 positions.

Although they do not account for some of Trump’s actions during his first few weeks in office, the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a picture of the labor situation as he assumes office. This includes reducing deportation raids and the size of the federal workforce.

Employment in publishing increased by 2,500 to 920,100, while jobs in motion pictures and sound recordings increased by 1,600 to 409,500. The number of jobs at broadcast and content providers increased by 1,800 to 333,000.

Notable job losses occurred in the mining and quarrying sector as well as in the oil and gas extraction sector. Social assistance, retail, and health care saw the biggest increases.

The average hourly earnings rose by 17 cents, to $35.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.1 percent.

Jared Bernstein, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under Joe Biden, wrote on X that the latest figures were a “solid jobs report,” noting the three month average of 237,000 jobs and significant wage gains. “There’s chaos and there’s the job market. They’ve yet to intersect,” he wrote.