January Hiring Tops Expectations, But Sharp Revisions Reveal Weakest Growth in Years

February 11, 2026 – Employment rose by 130,000 in January as the U.S. unemployment rate was at 4.3 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Job gains occurred in healthcare, social assistance, and construction, while federal government and financial activities lost jobs. The number of unemployed people, at 7.4 million, changed little in January. However, the bullish January data is counterbalanced by heavy revisions to 2025 numbers, which brought the year’s payrolls growth at 181,000, down from the previously reported 584,000 additions, according to Yahoo. That represents the weakest annual job growth outside of a recession since 2003.

“Despite January’s payroll gains, the labor market remains sluggish and has continued to struggle even as overall economic growth has been strong,” said Scott A. Scanlon, co-founder and CEO of Hunt Scanlon Media. “Concerns about employment and persistent inflation have weakened Americans’ approval of President Donald Trump’s management of the economy.”

“The surprisingly strong job gains in January were driven mainly by healthcare and social assistance,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “But it is enough to stabilize the job market and send the unemployment rate slightly lower. This is still a largely frozen job market, but it is stabilizing. That’s an encouraging sign to start the year, especially after the hiring recession in 2025.”

Jeff Bonci, The Planet Group’s president of accounting & finance staffing, said the hiring slowdown reflects a “timing and caution issue.”

“Many companies paused hiring decisions late in Q4 and carried that conservatism into January as they waited on finalized budgets, interest rate clarity, and economic signals,” Mr. Bonci said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Looking ahead, we expect hiring activity to pick up as budgets unlock and companies move forward with targeted, skills-based hiring rather than large headcount expansions.”

Inside the Numbers

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for teenagers declined to 13.6 percent in January. The jobless rates for adult men (3.8 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), and people who are White (3.7 percent), Black (7.2 percent), Asian (4.1 percent), or Hispanic (4.7 percent) showed little change over the month. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little in January at 1.8 million but is up by 386,000 from a year earlier. The long-term unemployed accounted for 25 percent of all unemployed people in January.

The number of people employed part time for economic reasons decreased by 453,000 to 4.9 million in January but is up by 410,000 over the year. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

In January, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job decreased by 399,000 to 5.8 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.

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Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.7 million in January. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the four weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, also changed little at 475,000 in January.

Where Job Growth Occurred

• Healthcare added 82,000 jobs in January, with gains in ambulatory healthcare services (+50,000), hospitals (+18,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+13,000). Job growth in healthcare averaged 33,000 per month in 2025.
• Employment in social assistance increased by 42,000 in January, primarily in individual and family services (+38,000).
• Construction added 33,000 jobs in January, reflecting an employment gain in nonresidential specialty trade contractors (+25,000). Employment in construction was essentially flat in 2025.
• In January, federal government employment continued to decline (-34,000) as some federal employees who accepted a deferred resignation offer in 2025 came off federal payrolls. Since reaching a peak in October 2024, federal government employment is down by 327,000, or 10.9 percent.
• Financial activities employment declined by 22,000 in January and is down by 49,000 since reaching a recent peak in May 2025. Within the industry, insurance carriers and related activities lost 11,000 jobs over the month.
• Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

The Private Sector

Private sector employment increased by 22,000 jobs in January and pay was up 4.5 percent year-over-year according to the January ADP National Employment Report produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure of the labor market based on the anonymized weekly payroll data of more than 26 million private-sector employees in the United States. ADP’s Pay Insights captures over 15 million individual pay change observations each month. Together, the jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained data to provide a representative and high-frequency picture of the private-sector labor market.

“Job creation took a step back in 2025, with private employers adding 398,000 jobs, down from 771,000 in 2024,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “While we’ve seen a continuous and dramatic slowdown in job creation for the past three years, wage growth has remained stable.”

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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media