U.S. adds 225,000 jobs in January as hiring speeds up, unemployment rises to 3.6%

The numbers: The U.S. created a robust 225,000 new jobs in January to get off to a good start in 2020, reflecting surprising resilience in the labor market despite a contraction in manufacturing and softer economic growth.

The economy has added an average of 211,000 new jobs in the past three months, a marked acceleration from last fall and summer. Unseasonably warm weather in January likely gave hiring an added boost, however.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, edged up to 3.6% from a 50-year low of 3.5% as more people entered the labor force in search of work. The rate tends to rise if not all the new entrants find jobs right away, but it’s considered a sign of a strong labor market.

An ultra-tight labor market has put more upward pressure on wages, though paychecks are still not growing as fast as they usually do when unemployment is so low. The increase in worker pay over the past 12 months rose slightly to 3.1%, but it sits below the postrecession peak of 3.5%.

Before the employment report, premarket trading pointed to a lower opening for the stock market. The increase in new jobs easily surpassed the 164,000 forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch.