Employers in health care and retail sectors drove the job gains in January, which came as the country was hit by wildfires and winter storms.

Average hourly pay was up 4.1%, compared with January 2023, according to the report.

The report was affected by annual revisions, which incorporate more detailed data on job growth.

Those showed fewer job gains in 2024 overall than previously estimated. US shares were little changed after the news.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the report showed “the Biden economy was far worse than anyone thought, and underscores the necessity of President Trump’s pro-growth policies”.

Despite the revisions, the latest report suggested that the job market is more stable than it was just a few months ago, said Samuel Tombs, chief US economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, which said it was no longer expecting the Fed to cut rates in March.

“All told, the economy created fewer jobs than we previously thought last year, but the trend no longer appears to be deteriorating,” he said.

He warned that the firm still expected a “relapse” in jobs growth “given the muted level of hiring indicators and elevated uncertainty about the new administration’s economic policies”.