“The challenge for Republicans remains the same in the face of today’s numbers,” said Mr. Berman, now head of government relations at the Blackstone Group. “We have to advocate policies that are relevant to middle-income Americans’ everyday lives.”

On the wage front, the jury is still out. Last month, average hourly earnings rebounded after falling in December, increasing 2.2 percent for the last 12 months and suggesting that the benefits of a tighter job market could soon begin to spread more broadly to ordinary workers.

But the major question after Friday’s report is whether better wage growth can be sustained.

A few other signals are flashing yellow as well. Data last week showed that economic output grew at a slower-than-expected 2.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2014.

And on Thursday, the government reported a big jump in the country’s trade deficit in December, as imports surged and exports fell. With the dollar gaining strength against the euro and other currencies, a rising trade imbalance may weigh on the economy in 2015.

Nevertheless, even the one seemingly negative note in the January jobs report — an increase in the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent in December — was actually an encouraging sign, analysts said, since it was mostly caused by more jobless Americans looking for work again as labor demand heats up.

The overall picture was so encouraging, experts said, that Federal Reserve policy makers may feel more comfortable starting their long-awaited move to raise short-term interest rates in June, a step Wall Street had generally expected to be delayed until September or even later.