The U.S. economy added 130,000 nonfarm jobs in January 2026, more than doubling many economists’ forecasts and signaling unexpected strength at the start of the year. The unemployment rate declined to 4.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday.
The gain exceeded the Dow Jones consensus estimate of roughly 55,000 jobs and surpassed nearly all predictions surveyed by Bloomberg and other outlets, marking a stronger-than-anticipated opening to 2026 for the labor market.
Private sector hiring drove the increase. Employers added 172,000 jobs, while government payrolls fell by 42,000 positions. Construction accounted for a significant share of the growth, adding 33,000 jobs overall—including 25,000 in nonresidential specialty trades, the largest monthly increase in that category in five years. Economists attributed the surge in part to factory groundbreakings and new data center projects.
The White House cast the report as evidence that President Donald Trump’s economic agenda is gaining traction in his second term.
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai said: “Today’s blockbuster, expectation-shattering jobs report proves that President Trump’s economic agenda continues to pay off. The unemployment rate fell and private sector job growth remains robust, particularly for specialty trade construction jobs as the trillions in investments secured by the President pour into American manufacturing. With new revisions showing that the Biden jobs market was even worse than expected, President Trump continues to turn the page on the Biden disaster by rightsizing federal employment to the lowest level since 1966 and turbocharging economic growth.”
According to the administration, 615,000 private sector jobs have been created since the start of Trump’s second term. Federal employment, meanwhile, has fallen to its lowest level since 1966 — and to the lowest share of the total workforce in recorded history.
Wage growth also strengthened in January. Average weekly earnings for private sector workers rose 0.7% during the month. Since the start of the administration, average weekly earnings have increased 4.3%, while average hourly earnings have climbed 3.7%. Prime-age labor force participation reached its highest level since 2001, suggesting more Americans are entering or re-entering the workforce.
The report also included significant revisions to prior data, underscoring the volatility of earlier estimates. Over the final two years of the previous administration, job growth was overstated by 1.9 million positions when comparing initial releases with current figures. Annual benchmarking adjustments further revealed that 2025 produced just 181,000 net new jobs, sharply below earlier estimates of 584,000.
January’s gains were concentrated in health care, social assistance, and construction, while federal government and financial activities posted declines.
The report, delayed from its original release date because of a short government shutdown, offers one of the first comprehensive snapshots of the labor market under the administration’s current policy trajectory — and provides an early test of whether private-sector expansion can offset continued federal downsizing in the months ahead.
