The jobs report for January from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was released Wednesday, a few days late because of the partial government shutdown.
In a surprise to many, the report looked solid. The economy added 130,000 jobs in January, more than it has in months. The unemployment rate stayed about the same at 4.3%.
On the surface, Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz said Wednesday’s report was good.
“It was one of the surveys that is showing, okay, we are still humming along,” Shierholz said.
But it was different that what we’ve been seeing lately, she said. In 2025, the economy only added about 15,000 jobs a month, on average.
“So what we saw in January was a big change,” Shierholz said. “It could signify that things are strengthening, or it could be volatility in the data. We are really in a wait and see moment.”
But Layla O’Kane, senior director of data products at the nonprofit Opportunity@Work, said it’s a positive sign that companies appear to have hired more in January than they have in a while.
“To me, this is sort of tentative hope that the labor market is not going to go off the cliff that people are concerned about,” she said.
And she said it provides hope that the low-hire, low-fire labor market we’ve been in for a while won’t turn into a no-hire labor market.
“Health care in particular is an industry that has seen job growth, and same with social assistance,” O’Kane said.
Those two sectors have been propping up the labor market for a while. Construction also added a bunch of jobs in January. But Andrew Stettner, senior director for economic security at the National Employment Law Project, said there’s a reason people still are feeling like the job market isn’t great.
“When you look a little bit further, you know, hiring is pretty muted,” Stettner said.
Unless you’re in healthcare or social assistance, the market isn’t great, he said. And compared to a year ago, the unemployment rate is higher. About half a million more people are out of work, and hiring has slowed.
“When you have a job market like this — which is not a recession, but it’s just been a job slowdown — people really don’t like that,” Stettner said. “They want a situation where they feel like they can quit their job and get a much better one, they can get a promotion at work, and be able to afford a house.”
And for most people right now, that’s not what’s happening.