Friday’s report provided evidence of slowing expansion. The 143,000 jobs added would be the weakest January total since 2016. January is the ninth consecutive month of at least 4% unemployment, after the U.S. spent all of Feb. 2022 to April 2024 below that mark.

Economists had been expecting an overall healthy reading, with 169,000 net new jobs created in the month and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%. The January report, which effectively closes the book on the Biden-era job market,