US Unemployment Little Changed After Adding 379,000 Jobs In Feb - Labor Dept.

US Unemployment Little Changed After Adding 379,000 Jobs in Feb - Labor Dept.

The US unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percentage points in February as the country added 379,000 jobs in a pandemic-suppressed market, the Labor Department announced on Friday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2021) The US unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percentage points in February as the country added 379,000 jobs in a pandemic-suppressed market, the Labor Department announced on Friday.

"Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 379,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent," the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a statement.

The labor market continued to reflect the impact of the coronavirus coronavirus pandemic, the bureau said.

"In February, most of the job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, with smaller gains in temporary help services, health care and social assistance, retail trade, and Manufacturing," it said. "Employment declined in state and local government education, construction, and mining."

The consensus among economists polled by US media was for a jobs growth of 182,000 in February. That puts what the Labor Department announced nearly 200,000 higher.

The department also upped January's employment gains to 166,000 from a previously reported 49,000, pointing to a steady six-digit growth over the two months. Despite that, the jobless rate remained effectively the same, demonstrating the challenge in growing the labor market amid the coronavirus' stranglehold on the economy.

The United States lost more than 21 million jobs between March and April, at the height of business lockdowns forced by the virus. At least 10 million of those jobs have not returned, data shows.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Thursday he did not expect the United States return anytime this year or soon to maximum employment, which will be one the central bank's criteria for raising interest rates.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the Fed has kept US interest rates at between zero and 0.25 percent and pledged not to raise them until it sees maximum employment and inflation consistently at above 2 percent per annum.

The US economy itself shrank 3.5 percent in 2020, after a 2.2 percent growth in 2019.