Chart of the Day: Net New Jobs in January

Ticker

Monika Bauerlein,
CEO

Dear Reader,

The next few months are make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising, and we need more online readers to pitch in than have been of late. In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we take a level-headed look at the brutal economics of journalism, why investigative reporting like you get from us matters, and why we're optimistic we can grow our base of support in a big way—starting with hitting a huge $300,000 goal in just three weeks. Please learn more and donate if you can right now.

The next few months are make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising. We need to raise $300,000 quickly, and we need more online readers to pitch in than have been. Please learn more in "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," where we go into the brutal economics of journalism, and what makes Mother Jones unique and worth supporting if you can right now.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The American economy added 157,000 new jobs last month, but about 90,000 of those jobs were needed just to keep up with population growth, so net job growth was closer to 67,000 jobs. This was a little less than December’s number, which was revised upward to 196,000 (106,000 net). The unemployment number went up a few hundredths of a point thanks to re-benchmarking of BLS’s population estimates, which means the headline number ended up a tenth higher at 7.9 percent.

Down in the weeds, there were no big changes. Final revisions to the 2012 numbers were positive but modest. The economy continues to slog along.