Average hourly earnings for private payrolls increased 3.1 percent for year ended January 2020

For the year ended January 2020, nonfarm payroll employment increased 2,052,000, or 1.4 percent. Over that period, private employment increased by 1,875,000, or 1.5 percent. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased from $27.58 to $28.44, or 3.1 percent.

From January 2019 to January 2020, employment in construction increased by 142,000, or 1.9 percent. Over that period, average hourly earnings in construction increased 2.9 percent to $31.19. Education and health services added 630,000 jobs for the year ended January 2020. Average hourly earnings in education and health services were $27.84 in January 2020.

Employment in professional and business services (+390,000), leisure and hospitality (+320,000), financial activities (+132,000), transportation and warehousing (+105,900), and wholesale trade (+65,300) increased for the year ended January 2020. Over that period, average hourly earnings increased by 3.7 percent for both professional and business services and financial activities.

From January 2019 to January 2020, employment in mining and logging decreased by 33,000, or 4.4 percent. Over that period, average hourly earnings increased by 5.0 percent.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — January 2020." We also have more charts on nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings.