The resilience of the U.S. job market continues to defy expectations, delivering robust job growth across various sectors in January with a notable increase of 353,000 positions.
Leading the employment surge was the health care and social assistance sector, contributing over 100,000 jobs. When factoring in private education, often grouped with the aforementioned sectors by some analysts, the figure rises to 112,000.
Ambulatory health services and hospitals were significant contributors to the health care sector's expansion, with net increases of 33,000 and 20,000 jobs, respectively, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Another sector showcasing remarkable performance was professional and business services, which saw an addition of 74,000 jobs, significantly surpassing the prior year's monthly average of 14,000.
Manufacturing also experienced a notable uptick, adding 23,000 positions, a departure from its stagnant growth in the previous year. Of these, chemical manufacturing represented 7,000 new jobs.
According to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, the employment gains were widespread, highlighting strong performances in manufacturing and retail, sectors that had previously shown weakness in 2023.
Conversely, the mining and logging sector faced setbacks, shedding 7,000 jobs, despite a minor increase in oil and gas extraction roles, as detailed by the BLS.