The Labor Department released a closely watched report on Friday showing employment in the U.S. surged by much more than expected in the month of January.
The report said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 353,000 jobs in January compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 180,000 jobs.
Job growth in November and December was also upwardly revised to 182,000 jobs and 333,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net upward revision of 126,000 jobs.
The much stronger than expected job growth in January partly reflected a significant increase in employment in the healthcare and social assistance sector, which jumped by 100,400 jobs.
Employment in the professional and business services and retail sectors also saw notable growth, while employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate in January came in unchanged from the previous month at 3.7 percent. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to inch up to 3.8 percent.
At 10 am ET, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its revised reading on consumer sentiment in the month of January. The consumer sentiment index for January is expected to be unrevised from the preliminary reading of 78.8, which was up sharply from 69.7 in December.
The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on new orders for manufactured goods in the month of December at 10 am ET. Factory orders are expected to edge up by 0.2 percent in December after surging by 2.6 percent in November.