Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in February, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This was slightly above January’s revised figure of 125,000 jobs, but below the average monthly gain of 168,000 over the past 12 months.
Health care (+52,000), financial activities (+21,000), and transportation and warehousing (+18,000) led job growth in February, and social assistance continued to trend up (+11,000). Meanwhile, federal government employment dropped by 10,000, and temporary help services continued its decline with the loss of 12,300 jobs.
Other highlights from the latest BLS report include:
- The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% over the month, with 7.1 million people unemployed.
- The employment-population ratio decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 59.9%, and the labor force participation rate for the month was 62.4%.
- The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons increased by 460,000 to 4.9 million.
- The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job increased by 414,000 to 5.9 million.
- Average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents (0.3%) to $35.93, with a year-over-year increase of 4.0%.
ADP shows sharper slowdown in private sector
Private sector employment increased by only 77,000 jobs in February, according to ADP’s National Employment Report, significantly below the 183,000 jobs added in January.
“Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead.”
The ADP report showed job losses in trade and transportation (-33,000), health care and education (-28,000), and information (-14,000). Small business employment (1-49 employees) also fell by 12,000 jobs.
Year-over-year pay gains remained stable in February, with job-stayers seeing 4.7% wage growth and job-changers experiencing 6.7% wage growth.
