U.S. economy adds 242,000 workers in February, jobless rate holds at 4.9%

The U.S. jobless rate remained at 4.9% in February as American employers added a healthy 242,000 workers to the nation’s payrolls in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday (March 5).

Previously, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 292,000 and 151,000 in December and January, respectively, while the unemployment rate edged under 5% after stalling at that same percentage in the final three months of 2015, U.S. Labor Department data shows.

In late January, the state Department of Workforce Services reported that Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December had dropped two-tenths of a percentage point below the national jobless rate, sliding from 5% to a tidy 4.8% as the state’s civilian labor force increased by 1400 workers. DWS will release the January and February job numbers for Arkansas on March 15 and 24, respectively.

Meanwhile, Labor Department officials revised total nonfarm payroll employment for December from +262,000 to +271,000, and the change for January was changed from +151,000 to +172,000. With these revisions, employment gains in December and January combined were 30,000 more than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 228,000 per month.

HEALTHCARE SECTOR CONTINUES GROWTH
Overall, employment gains occurred in health care and social assistance, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and private educational services. Mining employment, which includes the oil and gas industry, continued on a yearlong decline.

Health care and social assistance added 57,000 jobs in February. Health care employment increased by 38,000 over the month, with job gains in ambulatory health care services (+24,000) and hospitals (+11,000). Over the past 12 months, hospitals have added a strong 181,000 jobs.

In February, employment rose by 19,000 in social assistance, mostly in individual and family services (+14,000). Retail trade continued to add jobs in February (+55,000). Employment rose in food and beverage stores (+15,000) and other general merchandise stores (+13,000).

Retail trade has added 339,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Food services and drinking places added 40,000 jobs in February. Over the year, employment in the industry has grown by 359,000. Employment in private educational services rose by 28,000 in February, after edging down by 20,000 in the prior month.

Construction employment continued to trend up in February (+19,000), with a gain of 14,000 in residential specialty trade contractors. Employment in construction was up by 253,000 over the past 12 months, with residential specialty trade contractors accounting for about half of the increase.

Employment in mining continued to decline in February (-19,000), with job losses in support activities for mining (-16,000) and coal mining (-2,000). Since a recent peak in September 2014, mining has shed 171,000 jobs, with more than three-fourths of the loss in support activities for mining.

Employment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, professional and business services, and government, showed little change over the month.

WEEKLY HOURS, EARNINGS FALL
Meanwhile, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.2 hour to 34.4 hours in February. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.8 hours, and factory overtime was 3.3 hours for the third month in a row.

On the wage front, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls fell one cents at $25.24, down from five cents improvement in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5%, just slightly ahead of gross domestic growth.

In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 3 cents to $25.35, following an increase of 12 cents in January. Average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent over the year. In February, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $21.32.