The fresh snapshot of the jobs climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested that the economy started the new year on fairly good footing.

Although the 193,000 gain in payroll jobs in January fell short of the 250,000 new jobs that economists said to anticipate before the release of the report, it still marked a sturdy showing and was the biggest increase in jobs since November.

In Utah, employment growth has continued to accelerate as well, pushing down the unemployment rate in December to 3.8 percent, down from 5 percent in the same month in 2004. Job growth in December held steady at 3.9 percent, one of the highest rates in the country. January's numbers for Utah, which are released later this month, are expected to be as good or even better.

''There's no question we're getting back to better days for job creation,'' said Ken Mayland, economist at ClearView Economics. ''There's been a sense of unease in the American workplace and this should help relieve that. The economy is getting off to excellent start in 2006.''

Moreover, job growth in December turned out to be stronger than previously thought. Revised figures showed payrolls expanded by 140,000 - an improvement over the 108,000 new jobs first estimated a month ago. Employment was revised up for some previous months as well.

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in January, from 4.9 percent in December.

On Wall Street, stocks fell as investors worried the Federal Reserve might raise rates this year more than they had previously thought.

In another report, the Commerce Department said that factory orders rose by 1.1 in December, a good sign that manufacturing was off to a strong start in the new year.

This improvement followed an even higher 3.3 percent gain in November and marked the third straight month where new bookings to factories went up. December's performance was in line with the 1 percent increase in factory orders that economists were forecasting before the release of the report.

For all of 2005, factory orders rose 8.1 percent. That followed a gain of 9.7 percent in 2004.

Job gains were fairly broad based, with employment growing in construction, manufacturing, professional and business services and education and health care. Those employment gains blunted job losses in retailing and government.

For all of 2005, the economy created nearly 2 million jobs - close to the number posted for 2004, according to annual revisions.

In New York, the Institute for Supply Management reported that the service sector grew in January but at a slower pace than the previous month. Its index dipped to 56.8 from 61.0 in December. The new figure was lower than the 60 reading forecast by analysts.

A reading of 50 and above points to a growing service sector, while a figure below that signals contraction. January marked the 34th consecutive month of growth for the service sector, ISM said.

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Tribune reporter Lesley Mitchell contributed to this story.