The unemployment rate in the United States hit a four-month high of 4.6% in January as employment growth fell short of expectations.

The U.S. Labor Department said today that 111,000 jobs were created last month, well short of the 150,000 new jobs that economists had been predicting. Economists had been expecting the overall U.S. unemployment rate to come in at 4.5%, the same as was seen in December.

U.S. factories cut 16,000 jobs from their payrolls last month, causing much of the weakness in the job market. The construction sector added 22,000 as warm weather added builders.

Job gains were also reported in retail services, education and health services, finance and government.

January jobless figures for Canada will released on February 9. The December unemployment rate reached a 30-year low of 6.1% with 62,000 more people finding jobs.