February Jobs Report – The Numbers

DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

Jobs

313,000

Employers added 313,000 jobs in February, up from 200,000 in January. Last month’s job creation was the largest since the middle of 2016 and was led, in part, by 61,000 jobs added in the construction industry, the largest such increase since the beginning of the recession in 2007. A government hiring spree also helped drive February’s job creation, with 26,000 jobs added, many of which at the local level. The newly released figure is significantly above the average 182,000 jobs created per month in 2017. Overall, the pace of hiring had gradually slowed each year since 2014, consistent with a tighter labor market in the later stages of an economic expansion.

Unemployment rate

4.1%

The jobless rate held at 4.1% for the fifth consecutive month in February, the lowest level since 2000. Analysts had been projecting a decline to 4.0%, given recent historically low claims for unemployment benefits. “The role of claims as a leading indicator of the unemployment rate remains intact and the signal is for further declines in the jobless rate,” Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR, Inc., said in a note to clients Thursday. Still, the ultralow jobless rate is continuing to signal the historic tightness of the job market.

Wages

2.6%

Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose to $26.75 in February from the previous month. The figure is 2.6% above the hourly wages workers saw in February last year and is consistent with sluggish pay growth employees have seen in recent years. The slower-than-expected wage growth has puzzled economists because a tightening labor market typically prompts managers to increase pay to compete for talent.

Labor-Force Participation

63.0%

The share of Americans working or looking for a job increased to 63.0% last month after holding steady at 62.7% for four months. The labor-force participation rate had declined since the 2000 tech bubble but declined more starkly after the 2008 recession. The rate has leveled off since the middle of 2015, hovering near where it is now.

from Real Time Economics http://ift.tt/2Hlnr0C