US companies added 291,000 jobs last month: survey

U.S. companies added 291,000 jobs in January, according to a monthly report released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP and Moody’s Analytics.

Last month’s gain was the biggest in five years, CNBC reported. The figures also exceeded Wall Street’s projected estimate of 150,000 jobs added.

The increase was attributed to some unseasonably warm weather in much of January, survey analysts said.

“Mild winter weather provided a significant boost to the January employment gain,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said in a statement. “The leisure and hospitality and construction industries in particular experienced an outsized increase in jobs.”

Leisure and hospitality had an increase of 96,000 jobs, and construction had a gain of 47,000 jobs.

Additionally, manufacturing jobs rose by 10,000, health care employment by 47,000 and education by 24,000.

The payroll figures are a positive sign for President Trump as he seeks a second term. Trump has made the economy, particularly the labor market, a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

The ADP report comes just two days before the broader Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report, which measures both private and government payrolls, in addition to the national unemployment rate.