EXPLAINER: 5 key takeaways from the January jobs report

WASHINGTON (AP) — The struggles that have afflicted the American job market since the viral pandemic tore through the economy nearly a year ago are keeping a tight lid on hiring.

The Labor Department's report Friday that employers added a meager 49,000 jobs in January, after having slashed 227,000 in December, did nothing to brighten that picture. Still, the unemployment rate slid to 6.3%, its lowest level since March, from 6.7% in December.

And January was the first month since June in which the economy generated more jobs than it did the month before: After a bounce-back of 4.8 million added jobs in June, net hiring had weakened to 1.7 million in July, 1.6 million in August, 716,000 in September, 680,000 in October and 264,000 in November — and then actually shrank in December.

All told, the United States still has 9.9 million fewer jobs than it did in February last year, just before the coronavirus erupted across the country.

In a sign of potential relief, new confirmed COVID-19 cases have fallen in half, from a daily average of around 250,000 in early January to just over 120,000 more recently. Still, the caseload remains high, and numerous states and localities have maintained restrictions on business hours and capacity. In addition, many Americans have avoided shopping, traveling, dining out and attending mass events for fear of infection.

Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital markets, called January’s job gain “underwhelming.’’ But he added that “the outlook is brightening as the vaccine rollout gains pace, and the jobless rate keeps tracking lower.’’

Here are five takeaways from the January jobs report:

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