US non-farm payrolls expanded by 135,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 per cent compared with January, the US Labour Department reported today.
The jobs report was considerably stronger than expected on Wall Street, where analysts foresaw an increase of 75,000 jobs last month, and appeared to dash investor hopes of an imminent cut in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve.
But while the overall number suggested there was still life in the US economy, it also revealed pockets of weakness. The manufacturing sector, for example, shed 94,000 jobs in February. Total manufacturing job losses since June amounted to 371,000.
Average hourly earnings, closely watched as an indicator of wage-driven inflation, were up 0.5 per cent from January and 4.1 per cent year on year.
In January, total non-farm payrolls rose a revised 224,000. Payroll growth was stronger than expected in February because of gains in service industries - particularly health services, social services, education and retail sales - according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These gains offset losses in the goods-producing sector, where payrolls declined by 75,000.
The services-producing sector saw payrolls rise by 210,000 in February, the biggest gain for the sector since last May.
Retail jobs gained 37,000 in the month, government jobs rose by 37,000 and transportation and public utility payrolls increased by 28,000.
In a separate household survey, the Labour Department said the number of jobless persons rose by 20,000 to 5.94 million in February.
The civilian labor force fell by 204,000 to 141.75 million while total employment fell 184,000 to 135.82 million.
The index of aggregate hours worked fell 0.5 per cent in February to 151 hours. The factory workweek fell by 0.3 hours to 40.6 hours.
Overtime in the manufacturing sector declined by 0.3 hours to 3.8 hours, which is the lowest level since 1992.
The average workweek fell by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours.
Average weekly earnings increased by 0.2 per cent to 482.22 dollars and were up 2.9 per cent year on year.
AFP