January adds 225,000 jobs
Summary
WASHINGTON -- U.S. hiring jumped last month, and many more people were encouraged to look for work, showing that the economy remains robust despite threats from Chinas viral outbreak, an ongoing trade war and struggles at Boeing. Hiring has picked up from earlier this year, when the trade war with China raged, and is helping remedy one of the economys key weaknesses: Even as the unemployment rate fell from a peak of 10% in 2009, millions of Americans were discouraged about finding jobs and stopped looking. The growth of the labor force is good news for workers because it means the strong economy is providing opportunities to people who were left out of the early stages of the recovery. "Its not a stretch to connect progress on things like [the U.S.-Mexico-Canada pact] and the China deal to restoring a sense of certainty," said Neil Bradley, the chief policy officer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Information for this article was contributed by Christopher Rugaber of The Associated Press; by Ben Casselman of The New York Times; and by Eli Rosenberg and Heather Long of The Washington Post.