Jobs Report Crushes It

Few things illustrate growing business confidence better than offering someone a job. After adding 1 million workers to payrolls since November, American employers have it in spades.

A 257,000 January increase in employment capped the biggest three-month advance in 17 years and delivered the strongest wage gain since 2008, figures from the Labor Department showed Friday in Washington. The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent as the prospect of finding work lured hundreds of thousands into the labor force.