Jobs report shows increase of 517,000 in January, crushing estimates, as unemployment rate hit 53-year low

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 for January, above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000 and December's gain of 260,000, according to a Labor Department report Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% versus the estimate for 3.6%. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons also edged higher to 6.6%. The household survey, which the Labor Department uses to compute the unemployment rate, showed an even bigger increase of 894,000. "Today's jobs report is almost too good to be true," wrote Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.