Payroll: The US adds 311,000 jobs in February, above estimates

The forecast according to the Refinitiv consensus was that employers created 205,000 non-agricultural jobs per month.

Roberto de Lira

March 10, 2023 10:32 AM – Updated 22 minutes ago

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The United States created 311,000 non-farm jobs in February, above expectations, according to payroll data released Friday (10) by the Labor Department. The unemployment rate was 3.6%% for the month.

The forecast according to the Refinitiv consensus was that employers created 205,000 non-agricultural jobs per month. The unemployment rate estimate was 3.4%.

January data was revised downwards as 504,000 jobs were created instead of the 517,000 previously announced.

In February, the labor force participation rate changed slightly at 62.5% and the population-to-employment ratio was maintained at 60.2%. These measures showed little change since early 2022 and remained below pre-pandemic levels in February 2020 (63.3% and 61.1%, respectively).

According to the Labor Department, February saw notable job gains in entertainment, hospitality, retail, government and healthcare, but employment declined in information, transportation and warehousing.

The leisure and hospitality sector created 105,000 jobs in February, which is close to the monthly average of 91,000 jobs in the past six months. Food and beverage services added 70,000 jobs in the month, while employment also continued to rise in housing (+14,000

However, according to the payroll, employment in retail trade increased by 50K in February, with a focus on the 39K jobs created in retail merchandise.

Government employment increased by 46,000 in February, roughly the same monthly average of 44,000 over the past six months.

In February, average hourly earnings for employees on the nonfarm private payroll rose 8 cents, or 0.2%, to $33.09. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.6%.