- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The
U.S. economy created just 112,000 new jobs in January, far fewer than expected,
government data showed on Friday, in a disappointing report that will weigh
on President Bush's re-election campaign.
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- The fifth straight monthly gain in non-farm payrolls
followed a revised increase of 16,000 new jobs in December, the Labor Department
said. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.6 percent, the lowest since
January 2002, from 5.7 percent the previous month - but those numbers are
taken from a separate, smaller, survey.
-
- Analysts had been expecting the improving economy to
create 150,000 new jobs in January. They were looking for the unemployment
rate to hold steady at 5.7 percent.
-
- Many of the new jobs came from a 76,000 increase in the
retail sector. But analysts had said before the report that a seasonal
adjustment quirk would be the main reason for such a rise. They said there
would be a gain because retailers took on fewer employees than expected
in the holiday shopping months, which would mean that according to the
seasonal adjustments in the report there would be fewer layoffs in January.
-
- The troubled manufacturing sector cut jobs for the 42nd
month in a row, despite some signs of a revival in factories.
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- The report included annual benchmark revisions but these
did not lead to a change in the overall picture of a weak jobs market.
-
- Economists and policy makers will be closely looking
at the report for evidence of an improvement in the labor market, which
is seen as the key to a sustained economic recovery. The Federal Reserve
is expected to keep interest rates on hold until signs of this emerge.
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