March 7 (UPI) — The U.S. created a fewer than expected 151,000 jobs in February, according to a Friday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employment was up in health care, financial activities, transportation, warehousing and social assistance. Federal government employment declined.
“Health care added 52,000 jobs in February, in line with the average monthly gain of 54,000 over the prior 12 months,” the BLS said in a statement. “In February, job growth continued in ambulatory health care services (+26,000), hospitals (+15,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+12,000).”
The Dow Jones consensus expected creation of 170,000 jobs in February.
The BLS found federal government employment dropped by 10,000 in February.
While DOGE-related federal layoffs are ongoing while being challenged in court, many of them happened after the BLS February reporting period and are likely to be reflected in the March report.
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the slashing of federal jobs by billionaire Elon Musk and DOGE reached over 62,000 this week.
The private payroll company ADP found just 77,000 private sector jobs created in February amid what ADP described as tariff “policy uncertainty.”
Average hourly wages for all workers on private non-farm payrolls rose 10 cents to $35.93 an hour. Wages have gone up 4% since February 2024, according to the BLS.
The unemployment rate was 4.1%.
Unemployment continued to reflect a racial divide, with joblessness among Whites at 3.8% compared to 6% for Blacks and 5.2% for Hispanics.
Asian unemployment in February was 3.2%.