The great American jobs creation machine is firing on all cylinders, with February’s jobs figures showing far more strength than expected and both January and December being raised higher than previously reported.
The U.S. economy added 273,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5 percent, the government said Friday.
Economists had forecast 175,000 nonfarm payroll growth and the unemployment rate to tick down slightly to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent the prior month.
Average hourly earnings were up by 3 percent compared with a year ago. The average workweek climbed a bit to 34.4 hours.
Man dead, another critical after double stabbing at Brooklyn park as police detain person of interest: NYPD
Trump scores another endorsement win with Louisiana Senate runoff victory
Louisiana Democrats pick rural farmer to challenge GOP in uphill Senate bid
Ketanji Brown Jackson Really Worried Judges Might Actually Apply Second Amendment In Gun Cases
Taxpayer Dollars May Have Funded Education Of CCP Assets, Report Reveals
Parents of 7-year-old who died weighing 255 pounds charged with murder in suspected neglect case
Red States Unite Against California Over It’s Alleged Plot To Impose Green Agenda On Nation
New York Might Make Mamdani’s City-Owned Grocery Stores Permanent
NY AG hopeful blasts Letitia James as Medicaid fraud recoveries collapse: ‘She’s not doing the job’
Trump nominates Oklahoma law enforcement veteran Lance Schroyer to lead ICE as permanent director
Two 14-year-olds flee MTA officers, remain missing after vanishing from New Jersey train station
Judge rules Dan Sullivan can appear on Alaska primary ballot against Sen. Dan Sullivan
Jeffries welcomes Democratic Socialists into the fold as critics warn party is revealing ‘exactly who it is’
Polygamous sect leader convicted of abuse charges after girls found in trailer on Arizona highway
Hezbollah rejects Israel and Lebanon’s peace framework: ‘Null and void’
December’s estimate of payroll growth was revised upward by 37,000 to 184,000. January’s number was revised up by 48,000 to 273,000. That adds a total of 85,000 more jobs than had previously been reported putting the three-month moving average at 243,000 jobs
The labor market has been a bright spot for the American economy in recent months, with unemployment at or near 50-year lows and the economy continuing to add hundreds of thousands of jobs month after month. The strength of the labor market has boosted consumer sentiment and consumer spending, keeping the pace of economic growth stronger than in many of the other major economies around the world.
The coronavirus is widely expected to slow economic growth this year, although the impact may be short-lived if the outbreak is contained or fizzles out after a few months. The Labor Department said there was no sign that the outbreak had hurt employment in February. The strength of the labor market, however, may bolster the economy’s ability to withstand the pressure.
Story cited here.
