Economy Adds 379,000 Jobs In February: What You Need To Know

The U.S. economy gained 379,000 in February, according to the latest data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a significant uptick from January’s addition of only 49,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate dipped slightly from 6.3% in January to 6.2% for February.

February’s long-term unemployed accounted for 41.5% of the total unemployed.

The Good News In The Data: Most of the jobs gains last month were in the leisure and hospitality sector, which suffered mightily during most of the pandemic.

During February, the sector’s job numbers increased by 355,000 from January, with roughly four-fifths of the increase (286,000) in food services and drinking establishments.

Employment was also up in the lodging industry (+36,000) and in amusements, gambling and recreation (+33,000).

On a year-over-year basis, employment in leisure and hospitality is down by 3.5 million jobs, a 20.4% decline.

Other sectors that posted job gains included temporary help services (53,000), health care and social assistance (46,000), retail (41,000) and manufacturing (21,000).

The remote workforce shrank during February, with 22.7% of employed people reporting that they teleworked as a result of the pandemic, down from 23.2% in January.

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The Bad News In The Data: Employment losses were recorded in construction (-61,000), local government education (-37,000), state government education (-32,000) and mining (-8,000).

Among the unemployed, the number of persons on temporary layoff during February was 2.2 million, down by 517,000 from January but 1.5 million higher than the last pre-pandemic month of February 2020.

The number of permanent job losses was relatively unchanged month-over-month at 3.5 million, but was 2.2 million higher than the previous year.

The number of long-term unemployed — those out of work for 27 weeks or more — was little changed from the previous month at 4.1 million but up by 3 million from the previous year.

Photo by Tumisu/Pixabay.