Three charts show the job market is getting better for millennials

On Friday, the BLS published one of the strongest jobs report in months: The U.S. economy added 257,000 payrolls in January, leading to the biggest three-month payrolls gain in 17 years. Average hourly earnings climbed 0.5 percent, the biggest jump since November 2008.

How did millennials do? Fusion crunched the data.

The unemployment rate for 16- to 34-year-olds fell to 8.3 percent in January, from 8.4 percent in December. Although that is still well above pre-recession levels, we are close to dipping back below 8 percent for the first time in seven years.

The 20-24 group saw the biggest drop in its unemployment rate, falling a full percentage point to 9.8 percent in January.

On the other hand, the youngest millennials saw their unemployment rate surge two points to 18.8 percent. But, the size of their labor force (unemployed + employed) expanded 1.1 percent — more than any other age group. The unemployment rate for 25-34 year-olds was unchanged at 5.9 percent.

The government defines unemployed people as anyone looking for a job who couldn’t get one.

The overall millennial labor force increased by 313,000 in January.

Fusion reported this morning that 28 percent of all millennials said in a recent poll they are unemployed or don’t have full-time jobs.

So things may be turning a corner for them.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.