The groundhog saw his shadow this week, and the new jobs report is now available! There may be six more weeks of winter, but there are also new numbers to pour over as the country takes it time getting over what seemed to be a year-long January. Many different factors, such as the L.A. wildfires, the inauguration of a new president, and the introduction of new tariffs (and then the rolling back of some of those import taxes), have come together to create the economic situation we find the U.S. in today. The report itself had fewer jobs added than expected, but it is coupled with good news, like a lower unemployment rate.
With an underwhelming additional 143,000 jobs added in January, this morning, the Dow opened with a whisper. Only minimal changes have been made, but the numbers are slightly higher than yesterday. The S&P and Nasdaq made small, upward movements as well. Unemployment dipped again to 4.0% from 4.1%, pleasantly surprising the economic experts. There were a few changes to the December report, including an overall reduction in the number of new jobs created, with more on that below. The number of jobs in the Transportation and Warehouse industries stayed roughly the same for January. As usual, we’ll have more on that sector further down!
December's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
In December, the Job Opening and Turnover Survey shows a key change. The number of job openings for 2024 decreased to 7.6 million. That’s a downward change of 556,000 jobs. The job opening rate decreased over the month as well. The report also indicates that layoffs and discharges increased in Transportation and Warehousing by a whopping 87,000. While probably due to concerns about tariffs and worries about the amount of goods that will need to be moved across the country, these numbers will be studied over the weeks and months to see if these layoffs are permanent. There were decreases in the number job openings in Professional and Business Services (225,000), Healthcare and Social Assistance (180,000), and Finance and Insurance (136,000). The only industry to see an increase in December was the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation area, with a gain of 65,000 open jobs. The quit rate for December went up to 3.2 million, while layoffs stayed the same at 1.8 million.
January's Jobs Report
For the month of January, Non-farm payrolls grew by a minimal amount, with only 143,000 added last month. While many economic experts still worry about inflation, these fears are now coupled with concerns about how new tariffs are going to affect things. January’s report shows unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.0%. The labor force participation rate for January rose slightly to 62.6%.
Last month, the Healthcare industry, which has been steadily adding small numbers of jobs every month for the past year, added another 44,000 jobs. In Government, new jobs came in with yet another gain of 32,000, in spite of promises to cut the size of the federal government. Those changes are slowly taking effect, with layoffs being promised in nearly every department at the federal level. The Retail sector added another 34,000 jobs in January, although Electronics and Appliances retailers lost 7,000 jobs. The Transportation and Warehousing industries, again, have not been making great increases or decreases for several months now.
Conclusion
The January Jobs Report and the December Job Opening and Turnover Survey came out today with numbers that lower than expected numbers. After downward revisions to 2024’s job openings, 2025 is seemingly set on making small and cautious strides. Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to follow the job market!
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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