BREAKING NEWS: Employment Gain Much Smaller Than Expected In January

Employers added just 36,000 jobs; unemployment rate falls to 9 percent

WASHINGTON — U.S. employment posted a fourth straight month of gains in January, but the pace of job creation last month was much smaller than expected.

The government’s employment snapshot for January, released Friday morning, showed U.S. employers added 36,000 jobs in January, as the unemployment rate ticked down from 9.4 percent in December to 9 percent last month — the lowest level since April 2009.

Employers were expected to add a net total of 146,000 new jobs in January. That's barely enough to keep up with population growth. Monthly job-creation figures need to be twice as fast each month to make a noticeable dent in unemployment.

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