The U.S. Labor
Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 275,000 in February
after a downwardly revised 229,000 rise (from 353,000) in January.
According to
the report, the largest jobs gains occurred in health care (+67,000), in
government (+52,000), in food services and drinking places (+42,000), in social
assistance (+24,000), and transportation and warehousing (+20,000).
The
unemployment rate jumped to 3.9 per
cent from an unrevised 3.7 per cent in the prior month. This marked the highest rate since January 2022 (4.0 per
cent).
Economists had expected
the nonfarm payrolls to advance by 200,000 and the jobless rate to remain
unchanged at 3.7 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate held steady at 62.5 per cent in February, while hourly earnings for
private-sector workers inched up by 0.1 per cent m-o-m (or $0.05) to $34.57, following a downwardly revised
0.5 per cent m-o-m climb in
January. This represented the weakest monthly rise
since February 2022 (+0.1 per cent m-o-m). Economists had predicted the average hourly earnings to increase
by 0.3 per cent m-o-m in February.
Over the year, the average hourly earnings surged
4.3 per cent in February, following
a downwardly revised 4.4 per cent soar (from +4.5 per cent) in the previous
month. Economists had forecast the annual
wage to grow by
4.4 per cent in February.
The
average workweek increased
0.1 hour to 34.3 hours last month, matching economists' projection of 34.3 hours.