The January jobs report will be released next week Friday by the Federal Reserve, offering an indication as to how the economy is doing.

From November and December, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8 percent, the best it's been in four years.

Job growth has been pretty much stagnant at about 150,000-160,000 gained per month for the past year.

Economists are expecting 168,000 new jobs were created in January, up from 155,000 in December, and the unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans seeking first-time unemployment benefits fell to its lowest mark in five years.First-time applications for unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 330,000, the government said yesterday. That's the fewest since January 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, also fell to nearly a five-year low.

The economy isn't growing fast enough to accelerate hiring. Flat pay and high unemployment are holding back consumer spending, which rose at a meager annual rate of 1.6 percent in the July-September quarter.