Payroll employment in January 2013

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in January. In 2012, employment growth averaged 181,000 per month.

Employment in retail trade rose by 32,600 in January, compared with an average monthly gain of 20,000 in 2012. Within the industry, job growth continued in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+6,600), electronics and appliance stores (+5,100), and clothing stores (+10,000).

In January, employment in construction increased by 28,000. Nearly all of the job growth occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,200), with the gain about equally split between residential and nonresidential specialty trade contractors.

Health care (part of education and health services) continued to add jobs in January (+22,800). Within health care, job growth occurred in ambulatory health care services (+27,600), which includes doctors’ offices and outpatient care centers. This gain was partially offset by a loss of 8,400 jobs in nursing and residential care facilities.

Employment edged down in transportation and warehousing in January (−14,200). Couriers and messengers lost 18,500 jobs over the month, following strong seasonal hiring in November and December. Air transportation employment decreased by 4,900 in January.

Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged in January and has changed little, on net, since July 2012.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — January 2013," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-13-0144. More charts featuring CES employment data can be found in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: January 2013 (PDF).