- Prior -92K (revised to -133K)
- Two-month web revision -7K
- January was +126K (revised to +160K). December was -141K
- Unemployment fee 4.3% vs 4.4% anticipated.
- Prior unemployment fee 4.4%.
- Unrounded unemployment % vs 4.441% prior
- Participation fee 61.9% vs 62.0% prior
- U6 underemployment fee 8.0% vs 7.9% prior
- Common hourly earnings +0.2% m/m vs +0.3% anticipated
- Common hourly earnings +3.5% y/y vs +3.7% anticipated
- Common weekly hours 34.2 vs 34.3 anticipated
- Change in non-public payrolls +186K vs +70K anticipated
- Change in manufacturing payrolls +15K vs -5K anticipated
- Authorities payrolls -8K vs -6K in February
nonfarm payrolls
Sectors:
- Well being care: +76K vs -28K prior
- Building: +26K vs -13K prior (revised from -11K)
- Social help: +14K vs +9K prior (revised to +5K)
- Monetary actions: -15K vs +2K prior (revised from 0K)
- Transportation and warehousing: +21K vs -49K prior (revised from -11K)
- Skilled and enterprise companies: +2K vs +7K prior (revised from 0K)
The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, revealed month-to-month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is without doubt one of the most carefully watched financial indicators on the planet. It measures the online change within the variety of employed folks throughout practically all sectors of the financial system, excluding farm employees, non-public family workers, and nonprofit group workers. The report, formally often known as the Employment Scenario, attracts on two surveys: the institution survey, which produces the payrolls determine from a pattern of roughly 119,000 companies, and the family survey, which generates the unemployment fee from interviews with about 60,000 households.
The labor market entered 2026 in a weakened state. A serious benchmark revision launched with the January report revealed that 2025 job development had been considerably overstated, with the full-year acquire revised down from roughly 584,000 to simply 181,000 — a median of about 15,000 jobs per 30 days. Federal authorities employment has been a persistent drag, declining by roughly 330,000, or 11 %, since peaking in October 2024 because the administration pursued workforce reductions.
February’s report confirmed the financial system shedding 92,000 jobs, the third decline in 5 months and nicely beneath expectations of a roughly 59,000 acquire. A Kaiser Permanente strike sidelined over 30,000 healthcare employees, and extreme winter climate weighed on building and different sectors. The unemployment fee ticked as much as 4.4 % from 4.3 % in January. On the constructive aspect, wages continued to develop, with common hourly earnings rising 0.4 % for the month and three.8 % year-over-year, each barely above forecasts.

