U.S. employers added 275,000 jobs in February, beating Wall Street expectations and demonstrating once again the strength of the labor market in the face of inflation and rising borrowing rates.
The figure is higher than the 200,000 job gain that economists had expected for the same month, and the 353,000 job gain that some economists had expected in January’s blockbuster month. It was shown that this is not an abnormal value.
The health care, government, and food service industries had the biggest job gains in February.
According to the Department of Labor, employment at electronics retailers overall decreased last month.
As in recent months, Friday’s report proved resilient to persistently high inflation and rising borrowing rates, with the job market showing resilience in the face of persistently high inflation and rising borrowing rates, and as widely expected on Wall Street. This has stoked doubts that the Reserve Board will consider cutting interest rates until June.
The closely watched employment report also showed that the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, breaking a three-month streak of holding steady at 3.7%.
Annual wage growth, a key measure of inflation, rose 5 cents to $34.57, after rising 18 cents in January.
Wage increases have historically been driven by higher inflation, because when companies pay their employees more, the cost of goods and services increases.
Inflation rose a bigger-than-expected 3.1% in January, helped by an overall rise in the shelter-in-place index, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in the cost of everyday goods and services.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release February CPI data on March 12th.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told US lawmakers this week that progress in lowering inflation is “not guaranteed.”
“If the economy performs broadly as expected, it would be appropriate to begin reducing policy restraints at some point this year,” Powell said in preparation for Wednesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing. .
“However, the economic outlook remains uncertain and continued progress towards the 2% inflation target is not guaranteed.”
He said central bank officials “want to see further data to give them confidence and see a sustained decline in inflation to 2%” before cutting rates.
Federal Reserve officials have launched a campaign to raise interest rates in March 2022 to combat the worst inflation in 40 years.
AP
It raised the benchmark federal funds rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023, raising it to 5.5% in July 2023 from its current 22-year high of 5.25%.
A painful recession was widely predicted at the time, but economists have since significantly changed their stance, blaming it on a healthy job market.
Chairman Powell asserted Wednesday that there is “no evidence, and no reason to think, that the U.S. economy is in a recession or is at any short-term risk of going into a recession.”
Far from that, Powell said the Fed is on a “good trajectory” to achieve the expected soft landing in which inflation continues to fall to its 2% target while maintaining economic growth and low unemployment. He said there was.
