February 11, 2026
No one saw that coming — the job market blew away expectation with an explosion of new jobs added to payrolls in January – plus a slight drop in unemployment too. Now that may be good news for folks looking for a job. But while this job report is obviously making president trump very happy – the consequence of it may not.
So first – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January of 2026 — US employers added 130,000 jobs. That is the strongest growth in more than a year.
Here’s what it looks like on a chart – you can see there’s january and those 130,000 jobs added. It’s also worth noting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised the jobs from November and December down. BLS said we actually saw a combined 17,000 fewer jobs in November and December than they originally reported.
The other slightly good news is that the bls says the unemployment rate came down just a little bit. Instead of the 4.4% unemployment we saw in December – in January the unemployment rate was slightly better at just 4.3%.
So I know you’re thinking were are these jobs? According to the BLS – the vast majority were in the healthcare sector which added 82,000 jobs in January. The social services sector increased by 42,000 jobs. And the construction sector added 33,000 jobs. Just so you know — health care jobs are usually pretty strong. So while it is a big number – it’s not uncommon to see that many healthcare jobs added. But what is new is the uptick in construction jobs. Which experts say is coming from all these new ai data centers being built.
President Trump is obviously thrilled with this report – posting this to his social media page. Saying “wow the golden age of America is upon us.” He of course is also calling for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. But this report may actually give him the opposite of what he wants. That’s because a strong jobs report like this especially when inflation is well above the fed’s 2% target – not only justifies the federal reserve’s decision to keep interest rates steady — but it may also give some fuel to the idea that maybe interest rates need to be higher. The very least — a jobs report like this probably won’t give the Fed any reason to cut interest rates when they meet next month.
Read the January Jobs Report here.
