The latest jobs report is bad news if you’re looking for work — except in these fields

Andrew Keshner

Thu, February 12, 2026 at 10:48 PM GMT+9 3 min read

The U.S. economy’s low-hire, low-fire environment will continue for now, one expert says. - Getty Images

January’s jobs report easily surpassed Wall Street expectations, giving a temporary boost to stocks Wednesday — but it was downbeat data for many Americans who are unemployed and looking for work.

Though the U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs last month and the jobless rate decreased, most of the gains were clustered in the healthcare sector.

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That’s good news for people who want to work in healthcare, a longtime powerhouse for employment. But it spells tough news — and lengthy job hunts — for many other people in a “sleepy” job market.

In terms of hiring, healthcare services and private education, “continue to dominate,” adding a combined 137,000 jobs last month, said James Knightley, chief international economist, U.S., at ING. The gains were offset by losses in sectors such as government, he noted.

The January report was “decent,” but the concentrated job growth was “a huge concern,” according to Knightley. “This will do nothing to relieve the pressure on household finances and means consumer sentiment stays subdued,” he wrote in a note.

Americans’ debt load has continued to increase, according to a Tuesday report on consumer debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The strain is showing in housing, where mortgage delinquency rates in lower-income areas reached a 10-year high, the data showed. The amount of delinquent credit-card debt and auto loans has stabilized for now, but remains at elevated levels.

As long as the job market holds up, consumers have income to pay at least some of their debts for now. Yet it’s still a tenuous time, said Laura Ullrich, Indeed Hiring Lab’s director of economic research in North America.

“The American economy in early 2026 is probably confusing to most Americans — the labor market looks increasingly weak, but stock markets are hitting all-time highs,” Ullrich said. “The low-hire/low-fire environment continues for now, and the declining unemployment rate is always a welcome sign. But this balance is precarious.”

The January jobs report showed it is still taking many job seekers a lot of time to find new work.

One-quarter of unemployed people have been out of work for at least half a year, according to the report — up from 21% a year ago. The median length of unemployment is almost three months, at 11 weeks, the numbers showed; the average length is closer to 24 weeks, almost half a year.

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Many people don’t love their job these days, but they aren’t going to leave, considering how tough the job market is.

This Valentine’s Day, workers will be staying in that uneasy embrace, Ullrich said.

“In the face of ongoing uncertainty, workers are likely to continue hugging the jobs they do have and unemployed workers will continue to face limited choices and long job hunts,” she said.

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