Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US rose by 151,000 in February, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. This reading followed the 125,000 increase (revised from 143,000) recorded in January and fell short of the market expectation of 160,000.
Other details of the employment report showed that the Unemployment Rate edged higher to 4.1% from 4% in January, while the Participation Rate declined to 62.4% from 62.6% in the same period. Finally, the annual wage inflation, as measured by the change in the Average Hourly Earnings, rose to 4% from 3.9% (revised from 4.1%).
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised up by 16,000, from +307,000 to +323,000, and the change for January was revised down by 18,000, from +143,000 to +125,000. With these revisions, employment in December and January combined is 2,000 lower than previously reported," the BLS explained in the press release.
Market reaction on Nonfarm Payrolls data
The US Dollar stays under bearish pressure following the February labor market data. At the time of press, the US Dollar Index was down 0.5% on the day at 103.61.
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