UPDATE 1-Mexico jobless rate hits two-year high in January

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MEXICO CITY, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's unemployment rate MXUNR=ECI jumped to a more than two-year high of 4.06 percent in January, the government said on Wednesday, suggesting a U.S. economic slowdown may be affecting Mexican factories and other employers.

It was the highest jobless rate since July 2005 and above the 3.90 percent rate predicted in a Reuters poll of analysts ECONMX. Unemployment in December was 3.40 percent.

Economists expect Mexico's economy to grow a little less than 3 percent this year as a possible U.S. recession threatens to reduce demand for Mexican exports.

Mexico sends close to 80 percent of its exports, including oil, minerals and cars, to the United States, making it sensitive to upswings and downswings there.

The unemployment figure is not considered a very accurate picture of Mexico's jobless rate because of how it is measured. Analysts, however, sometimes refer to it as a gauge of likely changes in consumer demand.

Mexico's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the government said on Tuesday, but economists see expansion slowing in the first half of this year.

Tuesday's data showed growth accelerated in the strong service sector, though weakening manufacturing growth suggested the U.S. slowdown was already weighing on Mexico, said Luis Arcentales, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. (Reporting by Noel Randewich and Jason Lange; Editing by Leslie Adler)