February Employment Numbers Blow Away Expectations

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 2:36AM EST · Published Mar 9, 10:10AM EST

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February Employment Numbers Blow Away Expectations — © Thinkstock

The markets got their February unemployment numbers Friday morning, and they blew away expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 313,000 in February, above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 205,000.

Most of this gain was seen in construction, retail trade, professional and business services, manufacturing, financial activities and mining.

Employment in other major industries, including wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and government showed little change over the month.

At the same time, the unemployment rate was 4.1% for the fifth consecutive month, and the number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at 6.7 million.

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Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for black Americans declined to 6.9% in February, while the jobless rates for adult men (3.7%), adult women (3.8%), teenagers (14.4%), whites (3.7%), Asians (2.9%) and Hispanics (4.9%) showed little change.

Despite all this, average hourly earnings actually came in below expectations, posting an increase of only 0.1%, with the year-on-year figure three-tenths below the consensus at 2.6%. Considering how strong demand is for labor, policymakers at the Federal Reserve may not want to risk runaway wage gains as employers try increasingly to attract candidates, according to Bloomberg.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.