US payrolls grow by 304,000 despite government shutdown

U.S. payrolls added 304,000 workers in January, letting President Trump keep bragging rights for a strong labor market as employers seemingly shrugged off the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.

The increase reported by the U.S. Labor Department on Friday was nearly double the average estimate of 165,000 from economists surveyed by FactSet and remained well above the level needed to keep up with inflation. The unemployment rate, calculated separately, ticked up to 4 percent from 3.9 percent in December and compares with a nearly 50-year low of 3.7 percent in November.