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In a Friday data release, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised down January’s payrolls figure, which economists had already thought was too high.
Job gains in January were trimmed to 126,000 from 130,000. The agency also cut December’s figure by 65,000 to a contraction of 17,000.
Despite the grim report, the unemployment rate was 4.4%, little changed from January’s report.
Economists had expected the economy to add 50,000 jobs and the unemployment report to remain at 4.3%.
Employment in the health care sector decreased in February, which the BLS said reflected a major strike. That strike, at Kaiser Permanente, temporarily took about 31,000 people off the job.
While only temporary, those job losses underscore how the health sector was the overwhelming driver of the fed job gains recorded last year.
The tepid change in manufacturing roles continues a trend seen for most of last year, despite the Trump administration’s push to revitalize the manufacturing industry and onshore production facilities.
The U.S. economy at large has remained a mixed bag, in part due to a variety of headwinds that have included a government shutdown and a lack of clarity over the Trump administration’s tariff agenda.
Friday’s data could cause the Federal Reserve to focus more closely on the labor market. Already, the central bank is not expected to cut rates until the summer at the earliest, but Friday’s report sent U.S. government bond yields sharply lower. Stock futures hit their lows of the morning on the report.
https://nbcnews.com/business/economy/2026-labor-market-set-begin-taking-shape-february-jobs-report-rcna261994
Comments
@JD_co you're probably right ... the war was just the tipping point for everything else to come into sharp focus and force a downwards move.
How is this market even as high as it currently stands? Amazing bull market.
Yes, a real credit to White House Bull---t.