Companies added more workers than forecast to U.S. payrolls in January, signaling a healthy start to the year for the job market despite the partial government shutdown.

Texas, California and Florida created more than 200,000 jobs in 2018, according to employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ford Motor Co. said it will cut thousands of jobs, weed out slow-selling variants and potentially close entire factories in Europe, as the carmakers’s global cost-cutting drive targets a region that has been a drag on earnings for years.

WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings fell in November from the previous month, but the number of available positions remained healthy.

Companies added the most workers in almost two years to U.S. payrolls in December, exceeding forecasts and signaling that the job market was solid as 2018 came to an end.

The final report for 2018 is forecast to show employers added 180,000 jobs in December to cap a 2.45 million annual increase, the most since 2015 — but the monthly estimate is the lowest median projection since last January.

WASHINGTON — The number of open jobs rose in October to the second highest on record, evidence that U.S. employers remain determined to hire despite ongoing trade disputes and rocky financial markets.

WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses hired new workers at a solid pace in November, adding 179,000 jobs, according to a private survey.

U.S. job openings fell in September from a record in the previous month while Americans continued to voluntarily leave their positions at the highest rate since 2001, Labor Department data showed Nov. 6.

While unemployment fell more than forecast in September to 3.7%, the lowest since December 1969, average hourly earnings climbed 2.8% from a year earlier, slowing as projected from a 2.9% advance the prior month.