The United States kept up its breakneck pace of hiring in January, adding 257,000 jobs as workers received wage increases unseen since the financial crisis, according to government data released Friday morning.

The unemployment rate ticked up by one-tenth of a point, to 5.7 percent, largely because so many people - nearly 1.1 million - entered the workforce, some coming off the sidelines after years of discouragement.

The latest data indicates a fully firing labor market that has become the engine for the American recovery. The United States has added jobs over the last year at its steadiest pace in two decades, and January offered fresh evidence that employers are now willing to raise wages and compete for workers.