Hiring in the US rose by 151,000 in February
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Friday 07 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - Hiring in the US rose roughly as expected last month.
According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms non-farm payrolls increased by 151,000 in February.
Economists had anticipated a gain of 158,000.
The rate of unemployment ticked higher by one tenth of a percentage point from the month before to reach 4.1% (consensus: 4.0%).
Labour force participation slipped by two tenths of a percentage point to 62.4%.
Average hourly earnings were up at a month-on-month pace of 0.3%, as anticipated by the consensus.
Private sector payrolls rose by 140,000 (consensus: 130,000), but those in government by only 11,000.
Payroll figures for the prior two months were revised down by a combined 2,000.
Investors are attempting to figure out when exactly public sector layoffs will show up in the data, although they are mindful that many workers, whether civil servants or contractors, may also find other jobs relatively quickly.
That at least is the expectation of some economists at present.
Nonetheless, the current level of uncertainty around the new administration's trade policies may also act as a drag on company hiring.
For his part, Richard Carter, head of fixed interest rate research at Quilter Cheviot, said that the jobs market was continuing to "trudge along".
"However, there is concern that things may begin to turn sour in the coming months. The Trump administration has presented a fairly cloudy picture when it comes to economic policy, with harsh tariffs announced, only to be suspended for a month following backlash from markets," he added.
"This is making it very difficult for businesses to plan for the year ahead and will definitely delay in re-shoring of jobs that Trump is hoping to achieve. Furthermore, while it is too early for Elon Musk's influence to show up in the numbers, the removal of a number of public sector jobs will start to show in these reports going forward as DOGE wields its axe and looks to cut what it perceives to be waste."
Thomas Ryan at Capital Economics chipped in saying: "The upshot is that the labour market remains in decent shape and should be able to weather the DOGE-related cull of federal government employees, although we will have to wait until next month to assess the damage.
"For now, we think fed cuts this year are still off the table."
-- More to follow ---
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