Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 275,000 in February, and the unemployment rate
increased to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains
occurred in health care, in government, in food services and drinking places, in social
assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised down by
43,000, from +333,000 to +290,000, and the change for January was revised down by
124,000, from +353,000 to +229,000. With these revisions, employment in December
and January combined is 167,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.
The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.
Payrolls for December and January were revised down 167 thousand, combined.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.
In February, the year-over-year change was 2.75 million jobs. Employment was up solidly year-over-year.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged at 62.5% in February, from 62.5% in January. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio decreased to 60.1% from 60.2% (blue line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate increased to 3.9% in February from 3.7% in January.
This was well above consensus expectations; however, December and January payrolls were revised down by 167,000 combined.
I’ll have more later …