The US economy added a blow-out 353,000 jobs in January, smashing consensus expectations of around 180,000 and sinking hopes for an interest rate cut in March.
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 industry.
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.
Andrew Hunter at Capital Economics went further, suggesting a cut in May is now in doubt.
The "big picture for now is that markets are no longer convinced that the Fed will cut rates in May, let alone March".
The further blow to hopes of an early rate cut followed comments by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday after the central bank voted to leave interest rates unchanged.
Speaking after the vote, Powell said a rate cut in March, is not the "most likely case".
A cut in March was once seen by investors as the most likely outcome, though that conviction has steadily declined recently.