January Jobs Report: Hiring Slows in January to Start 2025

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported the United States economy added 143,000 jobs in January, a slow start to the year after December’s gains of over 300,000. Unemployment also dropped to 4.0%.

The largest jobs gains occurred in:

• Healthcare (+44,000)
• Retail (+34,000)
• Government (+32,000)
• Social assistance (+22,000)

Wages increased by 0.5% month-over-month and 4.1% year-over-year, continuing a trend of wages outpacing inflation since January 2023. The latest inflation measures for the two primary readings—Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)—read at 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively.

Revisions in 2024 Jobs Numbers

The January jobs report also saw a revision of all of the reported numbers from 2024—a common practice to start the year as the BLS more accurately represents hiring across the year. Overall, the BLS subtracted 236,000 jobs from its previously reported number of gains across the year, with most of the revisions coming from January 2024. The BLS actually revised November’s and December’s numbers upward, showing there was a strong uptick in hiring to close the year after hiring slowed during the summer.

The downward revision in numbers reflected the overall trend in hiring for 2024. There was a slight downturn from previous years, but it’s in line with what the Federal Reserve desired as it began to cut interest rates—a stable rate of job growth while wages continue to moderately outpace decreasing and steadying inflation. The Fed chose to not cut interest rates at its January 2025 meeting after cutting interest rates by 100 basis points over several months to end the year, potentially highlighting the central bank’s belief the economy has reached a steady equilibrium for the time being. They meet again in March to make another interest rate decision.

Four Industries Should “Hire Like Crazy” This Year

Despite the slower start to the year, Insight Global CEO Bert Bean expects multiple industries to “hire like crazy” in 2025. These include:

• Healthcare: As discussed in previous reports, the healthcare sector is always looking to hire. High turnover, worker shortages, and an aging population means the healthcare industry is routinely hiring talent.
• Oil & gas: Oil and gas companies had some of their best years regarding profit in 2024, leaving them in good standing to add headcount this year.
• Financial services: This industry faced layoffs the last couple of years as uncertain economic times fell on the country. Many financial services companies are continuing to engage in their core competencies of accounting, forecasting, and advisory, but many are also venturing into the world of AI, causing a boom of hiring in this part of the industry.
• Engineering: As the U.S. upgrades its transportation and communications infrastructure, and continues investing in innovation, engineering will continue to see modest growth.

“The threat of a recession spooked everyone, and then that recession never came,” Bean said. “So just as we talked ourselves into a recession, I think we’re talking ourselves out [of it].”

“We’re still holding our breath a bit, but I think this is the most optimistic business leaders have felt in the past two and a half years.”