WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy added a higher-than-expected 304,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate edged up to 4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday.
Job gains mainly occurred in leisure and hospitality, construction, health care, and transportation and warehousing, the bureau said. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones both had expected an increase of 170,000.
The impact of the partial federal government shutdown contributed to the uptick in unemployment rate in January, the bureau said, noting that the number of unemployed people who reported being on temporary layoff increased by 175,000, which includes furloughed federal employees.
After an upward revision for nonfarm payroll employment in November and a downward revision in December, jobs gains averaged 241,000 over the past three months.
In January, average hourly earnings for all private-sector workers rose by 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to 27.56 U.S. dollars, following a 10-cent gain in December. Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 85 cents, or 3.2 percent.
The unemployment rate has risen to 4 percent from 3.9 percent in December. The rate hit a 49-year low of 3.7 percent in September and remained unchanged in October and November.
