February 2018 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 4.1 percent
Jobs Created: 313,000
Employment and Unemployment
-
The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent for February, unchanged from the previous four months.
-
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.
-
The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell 0.8 percent over the month, to 6.9 percent.
-
The U.S. has created 3,092,000 new jobs since President Trump was elected in November 2016.
-
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.
-
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).
-
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
-
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
-
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.
Next Article Previous Article