The US economy added a blow-out 353,000 jobs in January, smashing consensus expectations of around 180,000.
There were also upward revisions to November and December of 126,000 while the unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.7%.
The figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, retail trade, and social assistance.
Employment declined in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industries.
The labor force participation rate, at 62.5%, was unchanged in January while average hourly earnings rose 0.6% from December.
ING's James Knightley said the jobs figure was "crazy strong," and means the Federal Reserve will be in "no hurry" to cut interest rates.
"This combination of strong jobs and wages with unemployment falling indicates clear strength in the US economy and even though inflation is still tracking towards 2% the Federal Reserve simply won’t consider cutting rates at the March FOMC meeting," he said.