US economy adds 311K jobs in February

U.S. economy has added 311,000 jobs in February, exceeding economists’ expectations, which estimated the number to be 205,000, according to latest monthly employment data by Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday.

The number of February’s newly added jobs is less than January’s 504,000 jobs number, but it shows the labour market’s ability to add more jobs. Despite that, the unemployment rate increased from 3.6 percent to 3.4 percent.

The added jobs can cause the Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates in efforts to curb the heightening inflation, and get the economy closer to a recession, said PNC Financial Services chief economist, Gus Faucher.

February’s employment report shows a 0.1 percent increase in labour force participation rate, to be 62.5 percent, which is the highest since April 2020.

Industries with job gains include leisure and hospitality, retail trade, government and health care. The Average hourly earnings inclined by 0.2 percent.

The added jobs number is bigger than pre-pandemic numbers, as the number of added jobs was 180,000 per month between 2010 and 2019.