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U.S. manufacturing employment was steady from December to January, while the overall economy added jobs, though at a slower pace than anticipated (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and NBC News).

What’s going on: “The U.S. added 143,000 jobs in January, fewer than economists expected, but the unemployment rate inched down to 4% from 4.1%, beating forecasts and still near historic lows. Forecasters surveyed by Dow Jones had anticipated 169,000 payroll gains in January, after a blowout 307,000 jump in December, according to revised tallies,” NBC reports.

• Manufacturing added just 3,000 seasonally adjusted jobs from December to January, going to 12,761,000 from 12,758,000.

Durables and nondurables: Jobs in durable goods manufacturing declined by 3,000, while nondurable goods added 6,000 jobs.

• Paper manufacturing led the January job creation for nondurable goods, followed by apparel, then beverage, tobacco, leather and allied product manufacturing.

Workweek and wages: The average manufacturing workweek was mostly unchanged in January, at 40.0 hours, and overtime remained the same at 2.8 hours.

• Average hourly earnings in manufacturing inched up to $34.64 from $34.52 in December.