- New data released Friday morning show what the US labor market looked like in February.
- The US added 311,000 jobs in February, beating estimates.
- The unemployment rate rose from 3.4% to 3.6%.
The US labor market remains strong in 2023 as employment increased significantly in February.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 311,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beating the 205,000 increase expected by economists polled by Bloomberg. They had expected February employment growth to fall from last month’s massive initial January reading of 517,000.
January figures have been revised to include an additional 504,000 jobs. The December reading was revised to an increase of 239,000 from a gain of 260,000.
The unemployment rate rose from 3.4% to 3.6%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the rate would remain at his 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969.
Aaron Terrazas, Glassdoor’s chief economist, told Insider earlier this week, ahead of Friday’s data release. A lot of the stories about what’s going on in the labor market and the economy have to really change. “
“Too much good news is bad news at the moment,” Terrazas told Insider on Wednesday. Job offer/turnover rate survey (JOLTS) contains January layoff data. The rate of layoffs and dismissals rose slightly from 1.0% in December to 1.1% in January, according to his JOLTS report on Wednesday. But despite what may appear to be massive job cuts, January’s hiring rate remained historically low.
Terrazas said he expected February job gains to be about 200,000, and before the latest numbers, said, “If 230,000 or 250,000 jobs were added, the market would be pretty nervous about the impact on interest rates. It will be,’ he said.
This is a developing story. Please check the latest information.