Please try another search
Investing.com – Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) rose by 313,000 in February, according to official data released on Friday.
The data beat the consensus estimate for the creation of 200,000 jobs and was higher than 235,000 that the ADP report indicated on Wednesday.
January’s reading of NFP was revised to 239,000 from the initial 200,000 registered initially.
The jobless rate, however, held steady at 4.1%, missing expectations for a further drop to 4.0%.
Average hourly earnings advanced 0.1% month-on-month in February, compared to forecast for a 0.2% gain.
Wage inflation rose 0.3% in January.
On an annualized basis, average hourly earnings rose 2.6%, below the consensus forecast for a 2.8% increase.
The increase in wages is being closely monitored by the Federal Reserve for evidence of diminishing slack in the labor market and upward pressure on inflation. Economists generally consider an increase of 3.0% or more to be consistent with rising inflation.
Additionally, the private sector created more new job contracts than expected in February with a total of 287,000.
Analysts had forecast just 191,000 new jobs.
January’s number was revised to an increase of 238,000 private nonfarm payrolls, from the prior reading of 196,000 jobs in the private sector.
Government payrolls increased by 26,000 last month.
In January, 1,000 government jobs were created which was a downward revision from the initial reading of the creation of 4,000 public positions.
The participation rate increased to 63.0% in February, from the prior month’s reading of 62.7%.
The U-6 unemployment rate, that includes those workers who are working part-time for purely economic reasons, remained unchanged at 8.2%.
Furthermore, the average weekly hours rose to 34.5 in February beating expectations of 34.4.
January’s data was revised upwards to 34.4 from the initial 34.3.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.