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.