The unemployment rate fell to 3.4 per cent from 3.5 per cent, hitting a level not seen since May 1969, the data showed.

The United States added 517,000 jobs in January this year, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). Economists were expecting 185,000 jobs would be added last month, based on consensus estimates on Refinitiv, an American-British global provider of financial market data and infrastructure. This implies the labour market continues to be volatile.

The report showed that wage growth moderated on an annual basis: Average hourly earnings fell by 0.4 percentage points to 4.4 per cent year over year. Monthly wage gains held steady at 0.3 per cent.

An increase in the closely watched labour force participation rate to 62.4 per cent from 62.3 per cent was also observed in the BLS report.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)