- The US added 678,000 jobs in February, outpacing the median estimate of 440,000 payrolls.
- The unemployment rate edged lower to 3.8% from 4%. Economists expected it to hit 3.9%.
- February saw the economy reopen as the Omicron wave faded and governments reversed restrictions.
The labor market's rebound charged through February as the Omicron variant's spread declined and the economy reopened once more.
The US economy added 678,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg anticipated a gain of 440,000 new jobs.
The reading shows job creation accelerating from January's pace. The January increase was revised to 481,000 new jobs from 467,000. December's figure was revised a second time to 588,000 payrolls from 510,000.
The unemployment rate dipped to 3.8% from 4%, according to the report, landing below the median estimate of 3.9%. That sits just above the record-low reading of 3.5% seen just before the pandemic.
The report shows the pace of hiring still holding strong as the country's virus situation rapidly improved. Daily COVID infections peaked on January 10 at more than 1.4 million, and while case counts remained elevated at the start of February, they ended the month at the lowest 7-day average since July.
The swift decline in daily case counts helped the country return to the less restricted state it enjoyed before the Delta wave emerged in the late summer. To be sure, the survey period for the February report ended about halfway through the month, meaning the continued drop in infections wasn't reflected in the latest data. Yet with the path of the virus playing a major role in the speed of the recovery, the falling case counts signal the hiring backdrop will continue to improve.
The labor force participation rate rose slightly to 62.3% from 62.2%, reflecting a less encouraging sign of the US jobs recovery compared to its jump in January. The measure has been crucial for tracking the labor shortage, as it reveals whether Americans are rejoining the workforce or sticking to the sidelines. And while payrolls and the unemployment rate have been quick to rebound, participation has had a far more stagnant recovery. With 6.3 million Americans still jobless, an improvement in participation is necessary to counter the labor shortage and bring the country back to the employment levels it enjoyed before the pandemic.
Wage growth has also been linked to the labor shortage as businesses scrambling to rehire continue to boost pay. The average hourly wage rose by just $0.01, or 0.03%, to $31.58 in February, BLS said. Economists forecasted a gain of 0.5%. The uptick is the smallest since June 2020, when average wages fell by 1.2% through the month. It's possible that, with hiring picking up speed, firms aren't feeling as much pressure to hike wages.
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