The unemployment rate in the United States dipped to 4.7% last month, its lowest level since July 2001.

The December unemployment rate was 4.9%, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday.

Employers added 193,000 new jobs in January for the biggest addition since November.

However, the employment growth was below the 250,000 new jobs that economists had been forecasting.

While January job growth missed expectations, December figures for new jobs were revised upward to 140,000 instead of the initial estimate of 108,000.

Canada’s employment report for January is due to be released on Feb. 10.

Canada’s unemployment rate crept up in December by 0.1 percentage points to 6.5% as more people entered the job market.