Health care was a bright spot once again for the U.S. economy ... jobs. Employment in leisure and hospitality, one of the biggest areas of job growth after the Covid pandemic, also shrank slightly.

The U.S. economy added jobs at a slower pace than expected in January, as the Federal Reserve remains in a holding pattern for interest rate cuts as it evaluates the labor market and inflation data.

Individuals who aren’t working or seeking jobs (whether they are in school ... stability, and GDP growth. The graph below depicts the U.S. unemployment rate (U-3 measure) from around 1948 ...