The great American jobs creation machine is booming like never before, just this February's jobs figures showing far more strength than expected and previous months January and December have been raised higher than forecasted.
The U.S. economy has created 273,000 new jobs just in February 2020 and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5 percent, as the government said first Friday in March 2020.
Economists had forecasted some 175,000 payroll growth in non agricultural and the unemployment rate to tick down slightly to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent in previous month.
The December's estimate of payroll growth was revised upwards by 37,000 to 184,000 and the January's number was revised up by 48,000 to 273,000 new jobs. That means that a total of 85,000 more jobs were added than actually predicted in reports and the three-month average growth came at 243,000 new jobs.
The labor market has become a brilliant spot for the American economy in recent months, with unemployment at or near 50-year lows and the economy continuing to add hundreds of thousands of new jobs month after month. The strength of the labor market has boosted consumer sentiment and consumer spending, keeping the pace of economic growth stronger than in many of the other major economies around the world.
The current unemployment rate remains because of the labor force participation rate increased, meaning the strong labor market drew more people into the workforce. The participation rate rose to 63.4 percent in January, the best rate since the last recession.
The employment to population ratio for prime age workers rose to 80.6 percent, the highest since 2001.
The Department of Labor said that notable job gains occurred in construction, in health care, and in transportation and warehousing. Construction employment came up by 44,000; which likely reflected the unusually warm weather in much of the country during the month.
The average earnings for all employees on private non agricultural monthly payrolls rose by 7 cents to $28.44 per hour. Over the past 12 months, the average hourly earnings have increased by 3.1 percent.
America's economy under the current administration is booming on an historic high, perhaps the greatest it's ever been.
The great American jobs creation machine is booming like never before, just this February's jobs figures showing far more strength than expected and previous months January and December have been raised higher than forecasted.