The unemployment rate now sits at 4.0% and businesses added 143,000 new workers to their payrolls last month, according to new figures from the Department of Labor.
Private-sector employment grew the most, adding 111,000 new jobs, while the public sector added 32,000. Within private-sector employment, the largest gains came from healthcare and social assistance, with a total of 66,000 new jobs. Growth in manufacturing was modest, with 3,000 new jobs. Construction added 4,000.
The figures for January are seasonally adjusted, because there is typically a large reduction in employment in the retail sector, as businesses shed workers after the holiday season.
There were also stronger wage gains than expected, with average hourly earnings increasing by 0.5% for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, and the same for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees.
Although experts predicted the cold winter weather and wildfires in California would have a noticeable effect on employment figures, the Department of Labor said this was not the case.
The new figures comes after strong economic performance in November and December, when 261,000 and 307,000 jobs respectively were added to economy. Total employment in November and December was 100,000 higher than previously expected.