Economists said the figures were encouraging, pointing to a particularly strong showing in the retail and transportation and warehousing sectors.
“Both give relatively positive signals about the health of discretionary spending, despite the hit to consumers’ purchasing power from higher gasoline prices,” said Thomas Ryan, North America economist at Capital Economics.
But he pointed to “mixed signals” elsewhere in the report, including slow wage growth and an overall contraction in the jobs market, with fewer working-age people seeking employment.
“All that being said, this was ultimately a positive employment report that reinforces the view that the labour market is stable and potentially even accelerating,” he said.