The U.S. economy added 111,000 new jobs in January but the nation's unemployment rate rose to a four-month high of 4.6 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The January figures defied analysts who had been expecting a job gain of around 150,000 and an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, the rate that was registered in December and November.

New jobs added in December were revised to 206,000 from 167,000 reported a month ago. Also, October and November payroll gains turned out to be 196,000 and 109,000 respectively, stronger than the 154,000 and 86,000 positions estimated earlier.

In January, "job growth continued in several service-providing industries, and construction employment also rose," the Labor Department said. "The number of manufacturing jobs continued to decline."

Factories sliced 16,000 jobs in January, marking the seventh straight month of job cuts. The construction sector, meanwhile, added 22,000 jobs.

Retailers, education and health services, professional and business services, financial firms, leisure and hospitality, and the government were among those posted jobs gains.

American workers' average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent to 17.09 dollars in January, compared with an increase of 0.4 percent in December. Over the 12 months ending in January, wages grew by 4 percent.

Wages account for two-thirds of a company's production costs. While wage growth should help keep consumers spending, a contributor to overall economic health, mounting wage pressures could trigger a rise in inflation.

Source: Xinhua