Job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. | AP Photo Economy added 227,000 jobs in January

The first jobs report under President Donald Trump showed the economy added 227,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported Friday, up from December’s 157,000.

Unemployment was 4.8 percent, up from December’s 4.7 percent. Average private-sector earnings were up 3 cents over December, when they rose 6 cents. Wages were up 2.5 percent over January 2016.


The unusually strong job gains may signal market confidence in Trump’s proposed tax and regulatory cuts — even though Trump didn’t assume office until Jan. 20. But further tightening in the labor market puts additional pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates, which would undermine Trump’s pledge to achieve 3 or 4 percent annual growth in GDP.

The jobs report comes two days after the Fed’s Open Market Committee said it would not raise interest rates, possibly signaling uncertainty about where the economy is headed.

President Donald Trump said in response to the new jobs numbers that there was "great spirit in the country right now."

"We're very happy about that," he said. "I think that it's going to continue big league."

During the 2016 campaign Trump attacked President Barack Obama's economic policies in part by arguing that BLS data were cooked, a position rejected by virtually every reputable economist. Candidate Trump called the unemployment rate "one of the biggest hoaxes in modern politics." President Trump cast no such disparagement on today's favorable numbers.

In a statement, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady sounded more optimistic about Friday's jobs report, compared to those of previous months.

"Today's jobs report is good news," he said. But he cautioned that "we have a lot of work ahead of us to get our economy running at full speed. "

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Analysts' reaction to the jobs report was mixed. Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets, told CNBC that "it is not all good news when it comes to the U.S. jobs number because if you peel the layers, it shows that the downside surprise is in the wage report and a lot of disappointment there." He added that "we still need to see more readings before we can see that there is a trend because this number is full with noise."

Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, was more positive. She said Friday's jobs report "[capped] off more than six years of steady job growth under President Obama." But Gould added that while the economy is "on its way to full employment ... job growth has been slowed by austerity at all levels of government and wage growth is still below where it should be."

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the creation about 175,000 jobs, an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent and an increase in hourly earnings of 0.3 percent. The payroll company ADP estimated Wednesday based on its own records that January job growth in the private sector was 246,000.

The jobs report followed news from the Commerce Department last week that GDP increased 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2016. That was lower than the third quarter’s 3.5 percent but higher than the second quarter’s 1.4 percent and the first quarter’s 0.8 percent. For the year, GDP increased 1.6 percent, down from 2.6 percent in 2015 and 2.4 percent in 2014. The Commerce Department’s second cut at estimating fourth-quarter growth and 2016 growth will be released February 28.

Labor force participation remained low at 62.9 percent, up from December’s 62.7 percent, close to its lowest level since the 1970s.