US employers kept their doors wide open for new hires in January, capping a three-month surge as a stunning one million jobs were created across the country.
A better-than-expected January total of 257,000 net new jobs made for the best hiring over three months since 1997, with a broad range of industries expanding payrolls despite the mid-winter economic slowdown.
The Labor Department's January employment report released on Friday also showed a modest gain in wages, and while the unemployment rate edged up to 5.7 per cent from 5.6 per cent, analysts said that related more to a jump in returnees to the labour force - a positive sign.
With the economy marking the 11th straight month of 200,000-plus jobs added, "This was another incredibly strong employment report for the US," said Harm Bandholz of UniCredit.
Most economists said the fresh data showed real signs of the economy gaining traction after a bumpy 2014 during which it grew a modest 2.4 per cent.
US markets took the report as good news at first, but a bout of profit taking at the end of Friday's session left the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both down by 0.34 per cent.
The US dollar surged more than one per cent to $US1.1322 per euro and to 118.97 yen, and US Treasury bond yields rose sharply.
