The US economy added just 113,000 jobs in January, as the unemployment rate edged down to 6.6 per cent – dashing hopes of a steady acceleration in the recovery and posing a challenge to Janet Yellen in her first weeks as Federal Reserve chair.

After job creation slumped in December, economists were very keen to assess whether that dip was an anomaly or a reflection of a deeper slowdown in the strength of the US economy.

With payroll formation in January rebounding only slightly, and well below economists’ expectations of 180,000 new positions, fresh concerns are likely to mount about the US economy entering a new rough patch. But last month’s figures may also be a poor guide, in that bad weather across big portions of the country could have distorted the data.