US job growth fails to reach expectation

Official data released today showed that US January job growth was strong but not quite as strong as expected.

The US Labour Department said non-farm payrolls grew by 112,000 in January, the strongest one-month gain since December 2000, but below expectations of 150,000 extra jobs.

The unemployment rate was down slightly at 5.6%, compared with expectations that it would remain steady at 5.7%.

The markets responded favourably to the data with the Dow up 10 points and the Nasdaq up 15 in early trading.