U.S. Adds 225,000 Jobs in January amid Strong Manufacturing Numbers

United States nonfarm jobs “rose by 225,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 percent,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

January’s jobs increase comes as manufacturing “expanded in January, as the PMI registered 50.9 percent, an increase of 3.1 percentage points” from December. A PMI of “above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally declining.” U.S. manufacturing sector “expanded in January after contracting for five straight months.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported “that the [trade] deficit was $48.9 billion in December, up $5.2 billion from $43.7 billion in November”. However, the “[trade] deficit with China decreased $73.9 billion to $345.6 billion in 2019.”