The Housing Chronicles Blog: February job growth soared to 313,000, highest rate since July 2016

Friday, March 9, 2018

February job growth soared to 313,000, highest rate since July 2016

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 313,000 in February (versus 200,000 expected), and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent. Employment rose in construction, retail trade, professional and business services, manufacturing, financial activities, and mining.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.4 million in February and accounted for 20.7 percent of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed was down by 369,000.

The civilian labor force rose by 806,000 in February. The labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage point over the month to 63.0 percent but changed little over the year.

In February, total employment, as measured by the household survey, rose by 785,000. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.3 percentage point to 60.4 percent in February, following 4 months of little change.

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