The latest jobs report shattered expectations Friday, after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found employers added 517,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dipped one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.4%, the lowest rate since 1969.
Analysts had expected only 188,000 jobs to be added in January after a string of announcements of layoffs by large companies, especially in the tech sector, and a series of interest rate cuts over the past year by the Federal Reserve to cool inflation. Nevertheless, job gains were widespread, led by leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, health care and government.
Professional and business services rose by 82,000 jobs, including a gain of 7,400 jobs in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. In contrast, job growth in professional and business services averaged 63,000 per month last year.
"What I'm seeing in real time on the accounting and finance side is that small and medium-sized companies are still hiring in those roles," said LaSalle Network CEO Tom Gimbel, who heads an employment agency that recruits accountants. "We're seeing some large companies that are hiring. The majority of the layoffs have been in big tech, and then on the sales side, the marketing side, and the product side, but we haven't yet seen it on the accounting and finance side. We continue to see robust hiring in transactional accounting roles, like accounts payable, accounts receivable, bookkeeping and payroll, but we're also seeing it on the finance side as well, in financial reporting and analytics."
The BLS also revised upward the job numbers for last November and December, with November's numbers going up by 34,000, from 256,000 to 290,000, and December's by 37,000, going from 223,000 to 260,000. With both revisions, employment gains in November and December combined were 71,000 higher than the BLS previously reported.
Average hourly earnings also rose in January by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $33.03. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 4.4%. The average workweek increased by three-tenths of an hour to 34.7 hours in January.
