United States Economy Generates 151,000 Jobs In January, Reduces Country’s Unemployment Rate

In a press release published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics yesterday, the United States economy was able to create 151,000 jobs in January. Contrary to what was expected, the recorded figure was somehow disappointing when compared to the jobs created on December last year reaching over 290,000. However, despite the decline, the report noted that the figure was able to push down the country's unemployment rate to 4.9 percent.

The survey data revealed that most of the job gains occurred in industries of retail trade, health care, manufacturing, food services and drinking places. However, mining, transportation, warehousing and private educational services saw lackluster performances in terms of job creation.

Retail trade was able to generate 58,000 more jobs, which reflected a sweeping increase in employment over the past 12 months. Employment in places offering drink and food services rose by 47,000 in January. Meanwhile, health care created 37,000 job opportunities; 29,000 for manufacturing, and 18,000 financing businesses.

On the other hand, about 39,000 jobs were lost in private educational services because of seasonal layoffs while the mining industry met a 7,000 decline. Since 2014, employment in the mining industry has fallen by 17 percent, amounting to over 140,000 job losses. In other major industries like wholesale trade, government and construction employment records did not observe any major adjustments.

Meanwhile, among the major worker groups in the country, the unemployment rate for Whites declined by 4.3 percent in January, 8.8 percent for Blacks, 5.9 percent for Hispanics, and 3.7 percent for Asians.

Highlighting the low unemployment rate, United States President Barack Obama said in a press briefing on Friday that the United States economy has shown a remarkable improvement, especially considering the high rate of wages provided by American employers amidst the crisis that the country has been experiencing over the past years, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Obama also revealed certain aspects of his upcoming budget proposal, saying that prooposal could provide Americans better education and training for them to land good-paying job opportunities.