With hiring up in retail, construction and the financial sector, the economy added 227,000 net new nonfarm jobs during the month, the biggest jump since September.
The jobless rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 4.8 per cent, reflecting a small increase in the labor force.
The result far surpassed a consensus forecast for 170,000 new positions, although economists have warned in recent days about be a possible big upside surprise based on other recent labour indicators.
Revisions to the November and December data, which subtracted 39,000 jobs from the originally reported figures, mean the economy created an average of 183,000 new jobs over the past three months.
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Trump - who on the campaign trail repeatedly impugned the trustworthiness of the unemployment data - has pledged to create 25 million jobs over the next 10 years, a goal economists say is unrealistic because the economy is already near full employment and the ageing work force will probably grow very slowly.
Average hourly earnings were USD 26.00 an hour, up a very modest three cents from December. Wages are up 2.5 per cent over the last 12 months.