Staff Writer

On Friday, February 3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published a report which included preliminary national unemployment numbers for January. The national unemployment rate dropped from 3.5 percent in December to 3.4 percent in January, the lowest recorded unemployment rate since 1969. 

As the unemployment rate dropped, the nation added 517,000 new nonfarm jobs, much higher than previous monthly gains. The largest gains were seen in the leisure and hospitality (128,000), professional and business services (82,000), government (74,000), health care (58,000), retail trade (30,000), and construction (28,000) sectors.
The full Bureau of Labor Statistics report can be found here.