Quick Facts:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 311,000 in February.
- The Federal unemployment rate edged up to 3.6 percent.
- Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, government, and health care. Employment declined in information and in transportation and warehousing.
- Both the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.9 million, edged up in February.
- Long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.1 million, changed little in February and accounted for 17.6 percent of the total unemployed.
Looking Forward:
- Job creation decelerated in February but was still stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow the economy and bring down inflation.
- Though the jobs number was stronger than expectations, February’s growth represented a deceleration from an unusually strong January. The year opened with a nonfarm payroll gain of 504,000, a total that was revised down only slightly from the initially reported 517,000. December’s total also was taken down slightly, to 239,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous estimate.
- Leisure and hospitality led employment gains, with an increase of 105,000, about in line with the six-month average of 91,000. Retail saw a gain of 50,000. Government added 46,000, and professional and business services saw an increase of 45,000.
- The jobs report likely keeps the Fed on track to raise interest rates when it meets again on March 21st. But traders priced in less of a chance that the central bank will accelerate to a 0.5 percentage point increase, dropping the likelihood to 48.4%, or about a coin flip, according to a CME Group estimate.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
