The White House is heralding a better-than-expected jobs report as one of the first signs of what it says will be a “record successful year” in 2026, after a year of stalled jobs growth.
“The January jobs report shattered expectations, highlighting how the president’s pro-growth economic agenda is fueling American prosperity,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.
The labor market added 130,000 jobs in January, with 172,000 new jobs in the private sector – “more than two and a half times economists’ predictions,” Leavitt underscored.
That’s better than any month in 2025. Last year saw a net gain of 181,000 jobs, which many economists have described as a stagnant labor market.
Under the second Trump administration, the job market has lagged while some other economic indicators have been strong. GDP growth was robust in quarters two and three – generally stronger than it has been the last several years. Inflation dropped from 2.7% to 2.4% from December to January – the lowest since May and closer to the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Analysts’ interpretations of the latest jobs report vary from overwhelmingly positive to more critical.
The director of the Sound Money Project at the American Institute for Economic Research largely agreed with the administration’s read on the data.
“The labor market appears to be in great shape at the moment,” William Luther said in a statement to The Center Square.
He noted, as Leavitt did, that 80.9% of those between the ages of 25 and 54 were employed in January, the highest prime-age labor force participation rate since 2001.
“At the same time, the composition of jobs has improved,” Luther added, explaining that the president’s policies have stopped the trend of federal government job growth outpacing private sector growth, as it did at times under the Biden administration.
“That shift in employment, from the unproductive public sector to the productive private sector, will bolster economic growth going forward,” Luther said.
Others gave a more cautious analysis.
“The January job numbers were certainly stronger than expected,” said Desmond Lachmann, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “However, I would not make too much of one month’s numbers, which oftentimes are revised downward.”
Lachmann said he would still characterize the current job market as a “no-hire, no-fire kind of pattern,” though unemployment has remained low.
Senior Economist with the Competitive Enterprise Institute Ryan Young also interpreted the siloed job growth in health care as concerning.
“People are flocking to safer jobs where they are less likely to be laid off, instead of taking chances by starting their own businesses, or working for riskier startups instead,” Young told The Center Square.
