February 2018 Jobs Report

Unemployment Rate: 4.1 percent

Jobs Created: 313,000

Employment and Unemployment

1. The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent for February, unchanged from the previous four months.

2. For February, the jobs report shows an increase of 313,000 nonfarm jobs. Construction contributed 61,000 of these new jobs, and manufacturing accounted for 31,000 of them.

3. The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell 0.8 percent over the month, to 6.9 percent.

4. The U.S. has created 3,092,000 new jobs since President Trump was elected in November 2016.

5. The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 8.2 percent, unchanged from January but down 1 percent over the year. The U-6 figure represents both unemployed and underemployed workers.

6. By this measure, 13.4 million Americans are unemployed. These are people who are unemployed (6.7 million), want work but have stopped searching for a job (1.6 million), or are working part time because they cannot find full-time employment (5.2 million).  

7. The number of long-term unemployed, those unemployed for 27 weeks or more, was 1.4 million, nearly unchanged from January. They account for 20.7 percent of the unemployed. 

Labor Force Participation

1. The labor force participation rate is 63.0 percent, up 0.3 percent from January but below the pre-recession rate of 66 percent.

Wages

1. In February, average hourly earnings rose by 4 cents to $26.75, for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls; the gain follows a 7-cent increase in January. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6 percent, or 68 cents.