US payrolls up meager 36,000, but jobless rate falls
US employment rose by a meager 36,000 jobs in January, far less than expected, as severe snow storms slammed large parts of the nation, but the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since April 2009.
The increase in nonfarm payrolls reported by the Labor Department was a quarter of the 145,000 increase that economists had expected.
The government noted that severe weather could have affected construction payrolls, which dropped 32,000 last month. There were also large declines in the employment of couriers and messengers.
A department official also said 886,000 people in the separate household survey said they did not work in January because of severe weather.
"Weather did have an impact, construction was weak, below trend, and transportation and warehousing was also pretty soft and that could be affected by weather," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
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