The unemployment rate edged higher but the U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 257,000 jobs in January, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.



The number of new jobs created in January was expected to total 234,000, while the unemployment rate was seen coming in at 5.6 percent.



Full-time workers surged, gaining 777,000 and numbering more than 120 million for the first time since July 2008. Their wages grew as well, with hourly earnings up 12 cents an hour, representing an annualized gain of 2.2 percent and the largest monthly gain in the economic recovery.

It was only the second time in the last 11 years that January's numbers beat Wall Street expectations and came amid a powerful run for nonfarm payrolls. Over the past three months, job creation has averaged 336,000, with upward revisions for both November and December, good for a total of just over one million during the span.

"It's a great report. The labor force finally goes up, we got a little wage growth, a lot of upward revisions," said Ed Keon, portfolio manager for Quantitative Management Associates. "We're finally getting enough internal momentum that we can stay at that roughly 3 percent (gross domestic product) growth rate, maybe even a little higher as we go through the year."