Job seekers talk to recruiters with signs from the event during the WorkSource North Seattle Career Fair on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
January non-agricultural wage report beat Wall Street’s expectations in both job creation and the unemployment rate. Here are the top five solutions:
- In terms of subject matter, the news was good. Non-agricultural wage funds increased by 130,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, the latter thanks to a 528,000 boom in household employment. The Dow Jones consensus was for 55,000 jobs and a 4.4% unemployment rate.
- Wages also rose, rising a better-than-expected 0.4% for the month and 3.7% for the year. Working time, productivity increased by 0.1 hours to 34.3 hours.
- Along with the sunshine came the rain. Annual revisions to jobs, compared with census data, showed wage growth between April 2024 and March 2025 was 898,000 lower than originally projected. Moreover, the previous estimate for November was down by 15,000, and December was below 1,000. In the last six months of 2025, the economy lost a net 1,000 jobs.
- Wage growth was again concentrated in health care: 82,000 jobs were added in ambulatory care services, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities, and another 42,000 in social care. Only construction, which added 33,000 positions, showed significant improvement.
- Traders increased their bets that a strong payrolls number and a drop in the unemployment rate would keep unemployment at bay. Federal Reserve on the sidelines until the summer. Futures trading suggests there is only an 8% chance of a March cut, with the next drop unlikely until at least June. CME Group’s FedWatch Indicator.
They said:
“Right here: HUGE JOBS, MORE THAN EXPECTED! The United States has to pay MUCH LESS on its debt (BONDS!). Again, we’re the most powerful country in the world, so we have to pay the LOWEST INTEREST OFFICE for now. That would be the INTERATOSTOFFICE INTERESTOFFICE. A DOLLAR A YEAR – A DAILY BUDGET, PLUS America’s Golden Age it’s almost here!!! — President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post
“The strong January payrolls may have been somewhat exaggerated: construction payrolls rose, sensitive to warm January weather; health care payrolls were well above trend; and retail trade stabilized. The core pace of private payrolls may be closer to 50k per month, close to recent pace, after accounting for temporary strength in those areas.” — Michael Gapen, chief economist at Morgan Stanley
“Strong job growth in January allays some concerns about a softening labor market and supports the outlook for consumption. But we need to see more data to determine if January was a brief departure from the overall trend or a reversal of the weaker employment outlook.” — Atsi Sheth, Chief Credit Officer, Moody’s Ratings