Nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 jobs last month after a downwardly revised 48,000 rise in December, the US Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said early Thursday (AEDT).
The unemployment rate slipped to 4.28 per cent from 4.38 per cent in December. Job gains averaged 15,000 a month last year, down from the initially reported 49,000 pace.