Economy Gains 678,000 Jobs in February; Unemployment Falls to 3.8%

The U.S. economy gained 678,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continuing strong job creation numbers are a clear sign that the worker-friendly policies implemented by President Biden are having a positive impact on working people.

In response to the February job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

The increased pace of hiring has continued the recovery of the labor force participation rates, especially for Black men, now at 69%, up from 66% last year, and now virtually equal to White men at 70.5% This shows hiring is picking up and there is still room for growth @aflcio

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

For the second month, Black and White labor force participation rates have been equal. The rapidly recovering Black labor force participation rate shows that hiring is strengthening and there is still room for the labor market to grow back to its pre-COVID levels @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/oeyDXlZys6

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

The Black unemployment rate fell, for good reasons, from 6.9 to 6.6%; labor force participation rose, with more successes finding jobs than stuck unemployed, the share employed rose from 57.7 to 58.1% (Still worse than the high school dropout unemployment rate of 4.3%) @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

The V shaped recovery of the private sector labor market is closing fast on the pre-COVID peak, but the bigger gap in total payroll is caused by the slow recovery in the public sector (a drag again as in the Great Recession recovery) @AFSCME @AFTunion @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/7Ql8j4uqp3

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

The recovery in payrolls (moving right) was shared in all industries (high and low wage), but were led by Leisure & Hospitality which suffered the greatest COVID job losses (hidden within gains in manufacturing are losses in motor vehicle caused by stalled supply chains) @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/UopGVNI7JS

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

Average hourly wages were up 5.1% over last February, but up 11.2% in the lowest wage industry, Leisure & Hospitality on the strength of 21 states having raised their minimum wages on January 1–meaning low wage workers are beating inflation @AFLCIO https://t.co/g3MckqXQhr pic.twitter.com/tI1PsFis0V

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

This month 347,000 of the 678,000 payroll jobs added went to women (51.2%), over last February, women have gained shares in construction, wholesale trade, retail trade and transportation & warehousing–a shift toward higher wage industries @CLUWNational @AFLCIO @IWPResearch pic.twitter.com/gTH1XEGOGd

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

The success of those not in the labor force in January in landing jobs in February suggest at least 2.5 million women should have counted as unemployed rather than not in the labor force. 75% of those who entered the labor force found jobs. The labor market can grow more @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) March 4, 2022

And while the economy is recovering fast, Economic Policy Institute’s senior economist Elise Gould and President Heidi Shierholz explain in a CNN op-ed that we need to ensure it works for everyone.

Last month’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+179,000), professional and business services (+95,000), health care (+64,000), construction (+60,000), transportation and warehousing (+48,000), retail trade (+37,000), manufacturing (+36,000), financial activities (+35,000), social assistance (+31,000), other services (+25,000), wholesale trade (+18,000) and mining (+9,000). Employment showed little or no change over the month in information and government.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for Hispanic Americans (4.4%) and adult men (3.5%) declined in February. The jobless rates for teenagers (10.3%), Black Americans (6.6%), adult women (3.6%), White Americans (3.3%) and Asian Americans (3.1%) showed little or no change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged in February and accounted for 26.7% of the total unemployed.