U.S. Economy Added 200,000 Jobs In January; Wages Are Rising

The U.S. added 200,000 jobs in January, continued the trend of steady job growth for another month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.That means the economy has now added jobs for 88 months in a row.Average hourly earnings rose by 9 cents to $26.74, with a year-over-year growth of 2.9 percent. That's the highest rate of growth BLS recorded since June 2009.The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent. Analysts had predicted healthy job growth and essentially unchanged unemployment.Wages, meanwhile, had been largely stagnant for years, not rising to keep pace with the growing economy. Now, NPR's Les Cook reports, we are starting to see the tight labor market push up wages. Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org/.