Employment Situation

January 2026

Released February 11, 2026

+130K
Change in nonfarm payroll jobs
Dec 2025 to Jan 2026

-0.1 percent
Change in unemployment rate
Dec 2025 to Jan 2026

+0.1 percent
Change in labor force participation rate
Dec 2025 to Jan 2026

From December 2025 to January 2026:

• Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 130K to 158.63 million.
  • Private sector payroll employment increased by 172K to 135.33 million.
  • Government payroll employment decreased by 42K to 23.30 million.
• The headline unemployment rate (U-3) decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3 percent.
  • The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 8.0 percent.
• The labor force participation rate (LFPR) increased by 0.1 percentage points to 62.5 percent.

From December 2025 to January 2026:

• The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+137K) and professional and business services (+34K).
• The worst performing sectors were federal government (-34K) and financial activities (-22K).

From January 2025 to January 2026:

• The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+773K) and leisure and hospitality (+150K).
• The worst performing sectors were federal government (-324K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-195K).

From January 2025 to January 2026:

• For all employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 4.32 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.71 percent.
• For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 4.39 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.77 percent.

Table 1. Labor Indicators

	Jan 2026	Dec 2025	M/M change	Jan 2025	Y/Y change
Payroll jobs
Nonfarm	158.627M	158.497M	130K	158.268M	359K
Private	135.326M	135.154M	172K	134.711M	615K
Government	23.301M	23.343M	-42K	23.557M	-256K
Unemployment
Official rate (U-3)	4.3%	4.4%	-0.1pp	4.0%	0.3pp
Broader rate (U-6)	8.0%	8.4%	-0.4pp	7.5%	0.5pp
Labor force participation rate
16 years and over	62.5%	62.4%	0.1pp	62.6%	-0.1pp
Prime age (25-54 years)	84.1%	83.8%	0.3pp	83.5%	0.6pp
Employment-to-Population Ratio	59.8%	59.7%	0.1pp	60.1%	-0.3pp

Table 2. Earnings Indicators

	Jan 2026	Dec 2025	M/M change	Jan 2025	Y/Y change
Production and non-supervisory
Hourly earnings	$31.95	$31.83	0.38%	$30.79	3.77%
Weekly earnings	$1,079.91	$1,072.67	0.67%	$1,034.54	4.39%
All employees
Hourly earnings	$37.17	$37.02	0.41%	$35.84	3.71%
Weekly earnings	$1,274.93	$1,266.08	0.70%	$1,222.14	4.32%

Table 3. Revisions

	1st	2nd	3rd	Net revision
Nonfarm jobs added
December 2025	50K	48K		-2K
November 2025	64K	56K	41K	-23K
October 2025			-173K

Table 4. Comparison to ADP Estimate

	BLS	ADP	Difference
Private nonfarm jobs added	172K	22K	150K

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

December 2025

Released September 30, 2025

-386K
Change in nonfarm job openings
Nov 2025 to Dec 2025

+172K
Change in nonfarm hires
Nov 2025 to Dec 2025

+107K
Change in nonfarm separations
Nov 2025 to Dec 2025

Job Openings: The total number of nonfarm job openings decreased by 386K to 6.54 million, and the rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.9 percent.

• The best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+66K) and other services (+56K).
• The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-257K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-172K).

Hires: The total number of nonfarm hires increased by 172K to 5.29 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.3 percent.

• The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+50K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (+41K).
• The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-52K) and federal government (-11K).

Separations: The total number of nonfarm separations increased by 107K to 5.25 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.3 percent.

• Quits increased by 11K to 3.20 million, and the rate remained unchanged at 2 percent.
• Layoffs and discharges increased by 61K to 1.76 million, and the rate remained unchanged at 1.1 percent.
• Other separations increased by 36K to 285K, and the rate remained unchanged at 0.2 percent.

Table 5. JOLTS Level Indicators

	Dec 2025	Nov 2025	M/M change	Dec 2024	Y/Y change
Job openings level
Nonfarm	6.542M	6.928M	-386K	7.508M	-966K
Private	5.804M	6.227M	-423K	6.634M	-830K
Hire level
Nonfarm	5.293M	5.121M	172K	5.374M	-81K
Private	4.978M	4.826M	152K	4.998M	-20K
Separation level
Nonfarm	5.251M	5.144M	107K	5.082M	169K
Private	4.932M	4.855M	77K	4.731M	201K

Table 6. JOLTS Rate Indicators

	Dec 2025	Nov 2025	M/M change	Dec 2024	Y/Y change
Job openings rate
Nonfarm	3.9%	4.2%	-0.3pp	4.5%	-0.6pp
Private	4.1%	4.4%	-0.3pp	4.7%	-0.6pp
Hire rate
Nonfarm	3.3%	3.2%	0.1pp	3.4%	-0.1pp
Private	3.7%	3.5%	0.2pp	3.7%	0.0pp
Separation rate
Nonfarm	3.3%	3.2%	0.1pp	3.2%	0.1pp
Private	3.6%	3.6%	0.0pp	3.5%	0.1pp

Upcoming releases

Date	Time	Release	Data source
Feb 12	10:00 AM	Monthly Fiscal Update, January 2026	U.S. Treasury
Feb 26	08:30 AM	Monthly Expenditures Update, January 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Feb 26	08:30 AM	Monthly GDP Update, Q4 2025 Second Estimate	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Mar 05	08:30 AM	Monthly Trade Update, January 2026	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Mar 06	08:30 AM	Monthly Employment Update, February 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Mar 11	08:30 AM	Monthly Inflation Update, February 2026	Bureau of Labor Statistics

Notes

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; ADP National Employment Report; JEC Republicans calculations

“pp” = percentage points; “M/M” = month over month; “Y/Y” = year over year

Consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, monthly figures are seasonally adjusted. Discrepancy in change figures is possible due to rounding.