Regional wildfires, snowstorms and strikes contributed to the slight increase of the nation’s seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Friday.
At 4.1%, February’s unemployment rate is up from 4.0% the month before and 3.9% in February of 2024. Despite inching up from January, “The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent since May 2024,” BLS reports.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in February, “similar to the average monthly gain of 168,000 over the prior 12 months,” the report notes. Still, job growth fell short of both analysts’ expectation of 161,000 and the 200,000 mark considered “normal.”
The labor force labor force participation rate of 62.4% is down from 62.6% in both the previous month and February of 2024.
Health care contributed the largest number of jobs in March. Federal government employment fell by 10,000 in February, but remained 32,000 jobs above year-ago.
By key sector, the March's changes in employment reported by BLS include:
- Health care: Up 52,000, “in line with the average monthly gain of 54,000 over the prior 12 months”.
- Ambulatory health care services: Up 26,000
- Hospitals: Up 15,000
- Nursing and residential care facilities: Up 12,000
- Financial activities: Up 21,000, "well above the prior 12-month average gain” of 5,000.
- Real estate, rental and leasing: Up 10,000.
- Insurance carriers and related activities: Up 5,000
- Commercial banking: Down 5,000 jobs.
- Transportation and warehousing employment (all components): Up 18,000 (“continued to trend up.”)
- Couriers and messengers: Up 24,000.
- Air transportation: Up 4,000.
- Manufacturing: Up 10,000.
- Social assistance: Up 11,000 (“below the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months” of 21,000)).”
- Individual and family services: Up 10,000.
- Federal government: Down 10,000.
- Retail trade: Down 6,000 (“has shown little net change over the year.)”
- Food and beverage retailers: Down 15,000 (“largely due to strike activity.”)
- Warehouse clubs, supercenters, and other general merchandise retailers: Up 10,000 jobs.
The White House cheered “swift turnaround“ in the manufacturing sector, particularly the growth in automotive manufacturing, in a press statement:
“The rebound in manufacturing jobs was led by the automobile sector, which gained 8,900 new jobs in February — after losing 27,300 auto jobs in Biden’s final year — showing that firms are reshoring production and positively responding to President Trump’s trade policies.
“The manufacturing turnaround has been confirmed by S&P Global’s own U.S. manufacturing survey, which surged last month to its highest level since June 2022, and the Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, which returned to expansion territory after 26 consecutive months of contraction.“