U.S. companies added 291,000 jobs in January, a big increase from December, but much of that strength likely reflected unusually warm weather during the month.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that the January job gain, which was larger than had been expected, compared to a revised December figure of 193,000.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that warmer-than-normal weather for January played a big role in the increase. He said without that impact, the job gain would probably have been around 150,000.
The ADP report is coming out ahead of the Labor Department’s release of the January jobs report on Friday. Many analysts expect that report will show a job gain of 150,000 in January, compared to 145,000 jobs in the government’s report in December. Analysts believe the…