The American labor market continues to strengthen: more than 300 thousand jobs were added to the economy in February
The forecast of Wall Street economists was about 225 thousand jobs, but in practice about 311 thousand were added last month ■ However, the unemployment rate increased by 0.2% and there was a slowdown in the growth of hourly wages
The rate at which new jobs were added to the American economy did decrease, but the number of jobs was still higher than expected – as indicated by the monthly employment report published yesterday (Friday).
Illustration (Photo: AP)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 311,000 new jobs were added to the economy during February, about 85,000 more than the forecast of about 225,000 new jobs.
Despite the addition of more than a quarter of a million new jobs to the economy, the unemployment rate actually rose to 3.6%. Wall Street economists expected this figure to remain stable and stand at its lowest value since May 1969 – 3.4%.
Payroll employment rises by 311,000 in February; unemployment rate edges up to 3.6% https://t.co/ZwrVfLviqL #JobsReport #BLSdata
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) March 10, 2023
Average hourly wages rose 0.2% compared to last month and 4.6% compared to February 2022. For comparison, Wall Street economists had expected these figures to rise 0.4% and 4.8%, respectively.
Among the notable industries that added jobs last month: hospitality and leisure (105,000), retail (50,000), government (46,000) and professional services (45,000).
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