Briefing.com: Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 07-Mar-25 09:25 ET

February Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 07-Mar-25 09:25 ET

Highlights

The February employment report released today won't be a salve for the market's growth concerns. It wasn't a completely bad report, but it didn't paint a picture of unquestionable strength either.
Nonfarm payroll growth was an okay 151,000, average hourly earnings growth was an okay 0.3%, the unemployment rate was an okay 4.1%, and the average workweek was a not-so-okay 34.1 hours. The labor force participation rate dropped and so did the employment-to-population ratio. The U-6 unemployment rate, which accounts for unemployed and underemployed workers, increased to 8.0% from 7.5%. That isn't okay.

Key Factors

February nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 (Briefing.com consensus 159,000). The 3-month average for total nonfarm payrolls decreased to 200,000 from 236,000. January nonfarm payrolls revised to 125,000 from 143,000. December nonfarm payrolls revised to 323,000 from 307,000.
February private sector payrolls increased by 140,000 (Briefing.com consensus 145,000). January private sector payrolls revised to 81,000 from 111,000. December private sector payrolls revised to 287,000 from 273,000.
February unemployment rate was 4.1% (Briefing.com consensus 4.0%), versus 4.0% in January. Persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 20.9% of the unemployed versus 21.1% in January. The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for unemployed and underemployed workers, increased to 8.0% from 7.5%.
Average hourly earnings were up 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) versus a downwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.5%) in January. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 4.0%, versus 3.9% for the 12 months ending in January.
The average workweek in February was 34.1 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.2), versus 34.1 hours in January. Manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.1 hours. Factory overtime increased 0.1 hour to 2.9 hours.
The labor force participation rate decreased to 62.4% from 62.6%.
The employment-population ratio decreased to 59.9% from 60.1%.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that it was no better than just okay. It won't be enough to silence the growth concerns that have echoed in recent weeks through other data releases.