The government’s report on Friday showed that job growth was ‘sluggish’ for the month of January and in particular, job growth in the healthcare sector was ‘flat.’
But the rest of the private service sector had a dreadful month. The retail industry lost 12,900 jobs in January and, for the second straight month, the once-booming healthcare sector was flat. Adding to the hiring woes, federal, state and local governments all cut back for a total loss of 29,000 jobs.
The industry saw the largest decline since September 2004, “employment in education and health services dropped 6,000 in January, the most since September 2004, after a 4,000 decline at the end of 2013.”
Employers added a net of 113,000 new jobs in January, a disappointment for most analysts who were projecting growth at around 180,000. The weak December report was blamed on the cold weather but that doesn’t seem to be the case for January. “Weather did not appear to be a major factor in the January job numbers as construction showed a very strong rebound, adding 48,000 to its payrolls over the month.”
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