In 2025, the US recorded its lowest single-year job growth for a non-recession year since 2003, according to new jobs data Wednesday. Revisions to employment figures showed the nation added 181,000 jobs in 2025, the lowest annual total outside of recession years in 23 years. That averaged out to just 15,000 job gains per month, down from an initially reported 49,000 pace.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also released final benchmark revisions for the year prior to March 2025. Those numbers saw the initial counts revised lower by a total 898,000, about in line with expectations. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate edged lower to 4.3%, below the forecast to stay unchanged at 4.4% from the prior month.

Markets rose following the news, with stock market futures ticking higher. The S&P 500 rose 15 points, while the Dow and Nasdaq dipped slightly. Treasury yields also posted strong gains. Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, cautioned in a note that the data “overstates any emerging strength in the labor market.” “Growth in nonfarm payrolls blew past expectations, but job gains were narrowly based and concentrated in construction and health care,” Vanden Houten said. “Most other sectors posted meager job gains or job losses. The federal government continued to shed jobs as did state and local governments.”

Furthermore, A stronger-than-expected jobs report for the month of January is likely to cement that the Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady for a while. “[The jobs report] pours cold water on the idea the Fed could cut rates again before mid-year and will fuel internal debate as to how restrictive policy is and how much slack there is in the labor market,” Evercore ISI head of economics and central banking Krishna Guha said.