January 2024 Jobs Report Shows U.S. Economy Added 353,000 Jobs During the Month

In January 2024, the United States economy added 353,000 jobs while the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent, according to “The Employment Situation” (PDF) monthly jobs report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS jobs report showed changes in employment occurred in the following industry sectors during the month:

• Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January 2024, considerably higher than the average monthly increase of 14,000 jobs in 2023.
• Health care added 70,000 jobs in January 2024. Job growth in health care averaged 58,000 jobs per month in 2023. 
• Retail trade added 45,000 jobs in January 2024 but has shown little net growth since early 2023.
• Government added 36,000 jobs in January 2024, below the average monthly gain of 57,000 jobs in 2023.
• Social assistance added 30,000 jobs in January 2024. Employment in social assistance grew by an average of 23,000 jobs per month in 2023.
• Manufacturing added 23,000 jobs in January 2024. Manufacturing experienced little net job growth in 2023.
• Information added 15,000 jobs in January 2024. Overall, employment in the information industry is down by 76,000 jobs since a recent peak in November 2022.
• Mining lost 5,000 jobs in January 2024, following little net change in 2023.
• Employment in construction, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and other services changed little in January 2024.

The BLS jobs report revealed that the change in total employment for November 2023 was revised from 173,000 jobs added to 182,000 jobs added while December 2023 was revised from 216,000 jobs added to 333,000 jobs added. With these revisions, employment in November 2023 and December 2023 was 126,000 jobs higher than previously reported.

“The Employment Situation” is usually released by the BLS on the first Friday of every month. The jobs report for February 2024 is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 8, 2024. The BLS jobs report is available online each month at www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm and www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.

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Thomas Ahearn - Digital Content Editor

Thomas Ahearn is a Digital Content Editor at ClearStar, a leading Human Resources technology company specializing in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health screening. He writes about a variety of topics in the background screening industry including Artificial Intelligence (AI), "Ban the Box," class action lawsuits, credit reports, criminal records, drug testing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), identity theft, privacy, social media screening, and workplace violence.

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