February NFP = +313,000

The U.S. economy added 313,000 net new jobs last month. The unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%.

This was the greatest number of jobs added since July 2016. There were also positive revisions to December and January.

Today’s report also had the highest jobs-to-population ratio since January 2009.

Construction firms added 61,000 workers, the biggest increase in nearly 11 years for the sector. Hiring also picked up at retailers, manufacturers and local governments, including schools. All levels of government added 26,000 workers, also the best gain since July 2016.

Better hiring was supported by Americans entering the workforce in larger numbers. The share of Americans participating in the labor force rose by 0.3 percentage point to 63.0% in February.

U.S. employers have added to payrolls for 89 straight months, extending the longest continuous jobs expansion on record.

The labor force participation rate for workers 25-54 is 82.8%. That’s the highest in several years.

Posted by on March 9th, 2018 at 10:25 am


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