U.S. job growth likely slowed in January, partly restrained by wild fires in California and cold weather across much of the country.

On Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the January jobs report; and, by and large, economists expect that job gains continued to slow to pre-pandemic norms but remained fairly solid (although,

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,

January job growth in the United States in January dropped drastically from December numbers and fell short of analysts' expectations according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday.

The U.S. added 143,000 jobs in January, fewer than economists expected, but the unemployment rate inched down to 4% from 4.1%, beating forecasts and still near historic lows.

The latest jobs numbers from January came out Friday. They show the economy added 143,000 jobs and unemployment declined from 4.1% to 4% last month.