US job creation surges in January

US job creation surged in January while the unemployment rate drifted marginally higher as more people joined the job hunt, the Labor Department reported today.

With hiring up in retail, construction and the financial sector, the economy added 227,000 net new nonfarm jobs during the month, the biggest jump since September.

The jobless rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 4.8 per cent, reflecting a small increase in the labor force.

The result far surpassed a consensus forecast for 170,000 new positions, although economists have warned in recent days about be a possible big upside surprise based on other recent labour indicators.

The new figures, which include the first 11 days of Donald Trump's presidency, largely confirm the health of the economy he inherited, which has seen a slow but steady recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

Revisions to the November and December data, which subtracted 39,000 jobs from the originally reported figures, mean the economy created an average of 183,000 new jobs over the past three months.

Trump - who on the campaign trail repeatedly impugned the trustworthiness of the unemployment data - has pledged to create 25 million jobs over the next 10 years, a goal economists say is unrealistic because the economy is already near full employment and the ageing work force will probably grow very slowly.

The labour force participation rate rose 0.2 point to 62.9 per cent in January, indicating more people returned to the work force to search for a job.

Average hourly earnings were USD 26.00 an hour, up a very modest three cents from December. Wages are up 2.5 per cent over the last 12 months.