U.S. businesses added 227,000 jobs in January, way above economists' forecasts of about 175,000, BBC News reports.

The figure, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compares with December's rise of 157,000, revised up slightly from last month's first estimate.

However, average pay barely rose, and the number of people working part-time but looking for full-time work rose.

Even so, the jobs growth suggests that new president Donald Trump has inherited a stronger jobs market.

He has promised to create 25 million jobs over 10 years to become "the greatest jobs president... ever".

President Barack Obama's term from January 2009-17 saw the number of people with jobs increase by 11.25 million.