US adds 227,000 jobs last month

This article is more than 12 months old

Feb 04, 2017 06:00 am

WASHINGTON The US economy continued to pump out new jobs last month, adding 227,000 positions, while the unemployment rate rose a tenth to 4.8 per cent, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

With jobs added at their fastest pace since September, the first employment report released in President Donald Trump's administration largely confirmed the health of the economy, which has had a slow but steady recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

Bank stocks were up in premarket trading as Mr Trump prepared to scale back the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.

Shares of big US banks also rose ahead of a meeting of top management with Mr Trump. Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were up more than 1.5 per cent.

Wall Street ended little changed on Thursday as Mr Trump's policy plans remained sketchy, nearly two weeks after he took office.

- WIRE SERVICES