BLS Claims Employers Added 130,000 US Jobs Last Month – But Revisions Slash 2024-2025 Numbers and ADP Begs to Differ

AP: “U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 jobs last month, but government revisions cut 2024-2025 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The report included major revisions that reduced the number of jobs created last year to just 181,000, weakest since the pandemic year of 2020, and less than half the previously reported 584,000.”
ADP begs to differ: “The U.S. labor market barely budged in January, with hiring below even muted expectations, according to a report Wednesday from payrolls processing firm ADP. Private companies added just 22,000 positions for the month and the number would have been negative had it not been for a surge of 74,000 hires in the education and health services category. The total was less than the downwardly revised 37,000 increase in December and below the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 45,000.”
DEVELOPING…