The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, in a report that was weaker than expected.
The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also showed a revision to previous month’s data, now showing a loss of 17,000 jobs in December and a gain of 126,000 jobs in January.
Employment in movies and music fell by 9,200, to 344,100. Broadcasting and content providers lost about 400 jobs.
The most significant job losses were in health care, with some of the drop attributed to strike activity, while employment in information industries and the federal government also fell.
“Companies are not hiring in the face of all of these headwinds and uncertainty,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal, posted on X. “And even healthcare is starting to slow down.”
Average hourly earnings for private sector employees rose by 15 cents to $37.32. Over the past 12 months, thopse earnings have increased by 3.8%, ahead of the rate of inflation.
With the latest report, there are predictions that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates where they are at its next meeting later this month.
Jason Furman, the Harvard professor who was President Barack Obama’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, wrote on X, “In sum, January bounced on the stronger side, February bounced on the weaker side. This is a shift towards labor market worries but only a very small shift. Mostly is what a world with usual volatility around low supply growth will look like. Fed should still wait and see.”
