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The U.S. economy added more new jobs than expected in February, but the unemployment rate rose for the first time in four months and the previous month’s job growth was revised downward, a sign of some softening in the U.S. labor market. It suggests.
Nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. economy rose by 275,000 jobs in February, well above the 200,000 increase expected by economists. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.7% in January.
The report said the number of jobs added in January was revised to 229,000, down from 353,000 originally reported.
The jobs data will be added to the data the Federal Reserve will consider before making its next interest rate decision later this month.
Wages, which are an indicator of inflation and attract attention as an indicator of how much influence workers have in the labor market, increased by 0.1% from the previous month and by 4.3% from the previous year. Economists had expected wages to rise 0.2% month-on-month and 4.3% year-on-year.
However, several key metrics declined. Although the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.5%, the average number of hours worked per week increased from 34.1 to 34.3 hours.
The largest job increase in Friday’s report was in health care, which added 67,000 jobs in February. Meanwhile, government employment increased by 52,000 people.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in his semiannual testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the labor market is “relatively tight,” but that “supply and demand “The situation continues to be well balanced.”
Markets were betting on Friday’s report that the Fed’s first interest rate cut would occur in June, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Investors are pricing in three to four rate cuts this year, according to Bloomberg data.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.
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