151K jobs added, unemployment down to 4.9% in January

US employers added 151,000 jobs in January, a sharp deceleration from recent months as companies shed education, transportation and temporary workers.

The Labor Department said Friday that the jobs gains were still enough for the unemployment rate to fall to 4.9 percent from 5 percent, reaching the lowest level since February 2008. The January figures follow seasonally adjusted job growth of 262,000 in December and 280,000 in November.

The slowdown reflects an increasingly muddled picture for the US economy. Global financial pressures and a volatile stock market have curtailed growth. But January’s jobs report appears to have further clouded the economic outlook as it showed that consumers are faring better despite steep declines in several industries.

With low gas prices leaving more money in consumers’ wallets and borrowing costs low, most economists expect Americans to spend at a decent pace this year and bolster economic growth.

Most analysts say that while the economy may slow this year compared with 2015, an outright recession remains unlikely. Economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have put the odds of a recession within the next 12 months at 20 percent. While still low, that estimate is up from 15 percent last year.