The U.S. economy added 257,000 jobs in January, and revisions showed that employment gains in the last two months of 2014 included 147,000 more jobs than previous estimated.

That was enough to keep job growth running at its fastest 12-month pace since the middle of 2000.

The 2.2% rise in average hourly earnings is still sluggish historically but it reflects a pickup from last summer.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% in January.

The increase in the unemployment rate reflected more Americans returning to the labor force, which is good news for the economy in the long run.