The American job market sang last month, as an unseasonably mild January helped power the U.S. jobs market to more gains, with non-farm payrolls rising 225,000 for the month, well above Wall Street estimates.
Information unleashed Friday by the U.S. Labor Department also revealed that the unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.6%, but for the right reason as labour force participation rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 63.4%, matching its highest level since June 2013.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for payroll growth of 158,000 and the jobless rate to stay at 3.5%, its lowest in more than 50 years.
A more encompassing labour market indicator that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons also moved higher, rising 0.2 percentage points to 6.9%. The so-called real unemployment rate previously had been at its lowest level in the history of the data series.