Unemployment rate rises slightly, remains strong

After ending 2014 at 5.6 percent (the lowest it had been since June 2008), the U.S. unemployment rate rose slightly in January but still remains strong at 5.7 percent — the lowest rate to start a year since it was at 5.0 percent in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The rise in the unemployment rate obscures some of the positive numbers from the month, including that, after accounting for the annual adjustments to the population controls, the civilian labor force rose by 703,000 in January and the labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 62.9 percent, mitigating the 0.2 percent fall to the participation rate in December.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 257,000 in January, with the largest gains seen in retail, construction, healthcare, financial