Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 in January 2024, with job gains in professional and business services, health care, retail trade, and social assistance. Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.
Employment change by industry, January 2024, seasonally adjusted
| Industry | 1-month change | 1-month percent change |
12-month change | 12-month percent change |
Employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mining and logging |
-6,000 | -0.9 | 4,000 | 0.6 | 635,000 |
|
Utilities |
1,800 | 0.3 | 17,100 | 3.0 | 585,500 |
|
Wholesale trade |
2,100 | 0.0 | 90,400 | 1.5 | 6,164,900 |
|
Other services |
5,000 | 0.1 | 84,000 | 1.5 | 5,868,000 |
|
Financial activities |
8,000 | 0.1 | 103,000 | 1.1 | 9,248,000 |
|
State government |
10,000 | 0.2 | 202,000 | 3.9 | 5,408,000 |
|
Construction |
11,000 | 0.1 | 216,000 | 2.7 | 8,137,000 |
|
Federal government |
11,000 | 0.4 | 86,000 | 3.0 | 2,968,000 |
|
Leisure and hospitality |
11,000 | 0.1 | 479,000 | 2.9 | 16,824,000 |
|
Information |
15,000 | 0.5 | -35,000 | -1.1 | 3,032,000 |
|
Local government |
15,000 | 0.1 | 313,000 | 2.2 | 14,715,000 |
|
Transportation and warehousing |
15,500 | 0.2 | -53,400 | -0.8 | 6,556,000 |
|
Manufacturing |
23,000 | 0.2 | 37,000 | 0.3 | 12,979,000 |
|
Retail trade |
45,200 | 0.3 | 140,500 | 0.9 | 15,658,800 |
|
Professional and business services |
74,000 | 0.3 | 207,000 | 0.9 | 22,978,000 |
|
Private education and health services |
112,000 | 0.4 | 1,037,000 | 4.2 | 25,943,000 |
|
Note: Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. |
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Professional and business services added 74,000 jobs in January and 207,000 jobs over the past 12 months. January's employment increase was considerably higher than the average monthly increase in 2023. Over the month, professional, scientific, and technical services added 42,000 jobs. Employment in temporary help services changed little over the month.
Employment in private education and health services increased 112,000 in January 2024, and 1,037,000 since January 2023. Employment in health care (part of private education and health services) rose by 70,000, with gains in ambulatory health care services, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities. Job growth in health care averaged 58,000 per month in 2023.
Employment in social assistance (also part of private education and health services) rose by 30,000 in January, reflecting continued growth in individual and family services. Employment in social assistance grew by an average of 23,000 per month in 2023.
Retail trade employment increased by 45,000 in January but has shown little net growth since early 2023. Over the month, general merchandise retailers added jobs, while electronics and appliance retailers lost jobs. Over the past 12 months, retail trade employment has increased by 140,500.
Employment in manufacturing edged up in January (+23,000), with job gains in chemical manufacturing and printing and related support activities. Manufacturing experienced little net job growth in 2023.
Government employment continued to trend up in January (+36,000), below the average monthly gain of 57,000 in 2023. A job gain occurred in federal government (+11,000), and employment continued to trend up in local government, excluding education.
These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — January 2024." Also see more charts of national employment, hours, and earnings data.
Article Courtesy US Bureau of Labor and Statistics