The U.S. economy added back the most jobs since July 2021 in February, with job growth accelerating even in the already-tight labor market as new Omicron cases from earlier this year came down.
The Labor Department released its February jobs report Friday and here are the main metrics compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
- Non-farm payrolls: 678,000-plus versus 423,000-plus expected, and an upwardly revised 481,000-plus in January
- Unemployment rate: 3.8 percent versus 3.9 percent expected, 4 percent in January
- Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: 0 percent versus 0.5 percent expected and a downwardly revised 0.6 percent in January
- Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: 5.1 percent versus 5.8 percent expected and a downwardly revised 5.5 percent in January
February’s jobs report presented yet another upside surprise to investors, and marked a 14th consecutive month of payroll growth. Last month, January’s jobs report also showed many more jobs returned than expected, with payrolls rising by 400,000 versus the 125,000 expected at the time. In Friday’s report, January’s job gains were also upwardly revised even further to show 481,000, compared to the 467,000 previously reported. And December’s payrolls were upwardly revised again to 588,000, compared to the 510,000 posted in last month’s revision.
Click here to see the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.