After a Year of Sluggish Hiring, 2026 Is Off to a Stronger Start

The U.S. economy began 2026 with stronger job growth: the Labor Department's delayed release showed employers added 130,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent. The data release was postponed by a short government shutdown.

That single month stands in sharp contrast to revised figures for 2025. Annual adjustments cut last year’s job gains to 181,000 from an earlier estimate of 584,000, the slowest pace outside 2020 since 2010. Nicole Bachaud of ZipRecruiter said the revisions reflected "really, really, really slow job growth and stagnation on a pretty major scale." Analysts warned it may be too soon to declare a turnaround.

Retailers hired far fewer seasonal workers over the holidays, which can make January look stronger after seasonal adjustment, and openings were at their lowest level since late 2017 with more unemployed people than available jobs since last July.

United States

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