U.S. hiring boomed in February while wage growth slowed
Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg—Getty Images, showing a strong labor market that likely keeps the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates this month while offering some respite from strong inflationary pressures.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 423,000 advance in payrolls and for the unemployment rate to fall to 3.9%. Labor demand is likely to continue to exceed supply, limiting the pace of job growth and putting upward pressure on wages. Friday’s report showed average hourly earnings were little changed in February and up 5.1% from a year ago, a deceleration from the prior month. The average workweek ticked up to 34.7 hours.
Even though wage growth lagged expectations, strong hiring and the lower unemployment rate support the Fed’s plan to raise rates this month. Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed that plan this week after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to a surge in oil, metals and grain prices and clouded the U.S. economic outlook. He said heThe labor force participation rate—the share of the population that is working or looking for work—ticked up to 62.