Quick Facts:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 678,000 in February.
- Unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percent to 3.8 percent.
- Job growth was widespread over the month, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, health care, and construction.
- The number of unemployed persons edged down to 6.3 million.
- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.7 million.
- Among the unemployed, the number of job leavers increased to 963,000 in February.
Looking Forward:
- Job growth accelerated last month, as falling coronavirus cases brought customers back to businesses and workers back to the office.
- The U.S. economy still has roughly two million fewer jobs than before the mass layoffs that began two years ago this month, and some workers remain sidelined by health concerns, child care problems or other factors. Many companies still report having trouble finding enough staff to meet demand.
- The labor market recovery has overcome every obstacle. Job openings are near a record high. Layoffs are at a new low. And hiring has remained strong in the ebb and flow of successive waves of the pandemic — employers have added at least 400,000 jobs every month since May, the longest such streak on record.
- Labor’s survey was conducted before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up energy prices and rocked markets, developments that economists say could crimp business confidence and hiring in coming months. Gas prices have soared above $5 a gallon in southern California, a state with the highest gas prices in the country, and the rest of the country may soon follow, according to a fuel analyst.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
