Wall Street Journal (02/04/15) Kathleen Madigan

Business hiring was solid in January, but the pace was slower than expected, according to an employment survey by Automatic Data Processing and Moody’s Analytics. Private payrolls rose by 213,000 jobs in January. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast an increase of 240,000 new jobs. The December number was revised up to 253,000 from 241,000.

Companies employing between one and 49 employees added 78,000 new employees in January. Medium-size businesses with payrolls of 50-499 employees hired 95,000 employees. Large firms with 500 or more employees hired 40,000 employees.

Service-sector payrolls rose by 183,000 jobs last month. Manufacturing companies added 14,000 jobs, and construction firms added 18,000 jobs.