The U.S. economy added lower-than-expected 113,000 jobs in January, according to government data Friday. It was the second straight month that job growth came in below economists' expectations. Wall Street had been predicting an increase in non-farm payrolls of about 185,000 and an unemployment rate of 6.7 percent. More people, however, began looking for work in January, reducing the unemployment rate to 6.6 percent, which is the lowest since October 2008. According to economists, frigid weather hindered hiring in December, but the impact faded in January, The Associated Press reported.
