January Employment Release

From Reuters:

News One Article | Reuters.com : WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers added a smaller-than-forecast 193,000 new jobs in January but job growth in each of the five prior months was pushed up as part of a broader annual revision of the Labor Department's statistics collection, a government report on Friday showed.The monthly report showed the January unemployment rate dropped to a 4-1/2-year low 4.7 percent from 4.9 percent in December. The last time the rate was lower was in July 2001 when it was at 4.6 percent.

Economists had forecast that 240,000 new jobs would be created in January and that the unemployment rate would be unchanged at 4.9 percent.

Average hourly earnings rose to $16.41 in January from $16.34 in December. In the 12 months through January, earnings have risen by 3.3 percent, the largest for any 12-month period in nearly three years, since February 2003. The wage data is likely to fan concerns that steady job growth is pushing up demands for wage rises and that could help foster broader inflation.Previously, the department said 108,000 jobs were created in December but it pushed that up to 140,000 and it said that, in November, 354,000 jobs were created rather than the 305,000 it reported a month ago.