February's job growth slowed to a crawl with just 20,000 payrolls added, but it is more the result of temporarily sluggish growth and not a sign of recession.
div > div.group > p:first-child"> The shockingly weak report was about 160,000 fewer jobs than economists had forecast, but it follows January's surprisingly strong 311,000 payrolls, which were revised higher by 7,000 workers. The unemployment rate also fell by 0.2 percentage points to 3.8 percent and average hourly wages grew at an annual pace of 3.4 percent.
"Right now, we're still waiting to get enough consistent data so we can assess what's going on. At this point, these numbers don't do that," said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies."In some respect, it's not dissimilar to the December retail sales numbers that were so weak they weren't believable."
A positive in the report was the so-called 'real' unemployment rate, which fell to an 18-year low of 7.3 percent from 8.1 percent last month. That number includes discouraged workers as well as those holding jobs part time for economic reasons. Also on Friday, housing starts for January were reported to have increased a surprise 18.6 percent, the fastest pace in eight months.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Wall Street drops on paltry jobs growth, global slowdown worriesWall Street's main indexes fell on Friday, after data showed U.S. job growt...
Read more »
Instant View: U.S. February job growth stalls but wage gains strongU.S. job growth almost stalled in February, with the economy creating only 20,00...
Read more »
Japan sees global growth risks persisting on trade war, China slowdownDownside risks in the global economy are likely to persist over the medium to lo...
Read more »
Polar bear cub's 1st outing from Polar bear cub's 1st outingMONKEY BUSINESS: A photographer shows some impressive focus while cheeky monkeys climb all over him and his camera as he tries to take his shots.
Read more »
Investors Scale Back Inflation Bets, Signaling Doubts About GrowthBets on a pickup in inflation are falling out of favor, underscoring investors’ skepticism that the U.S. economy will be able to stage a rebound after a soft start to the year.
Read more »
U.S. private job growth slows in February but January revised sharply higher: ADPU.S. companies hired 183,000 workers in February, falling short of analyst forec...
Read more »
U.S. job growth seen slowing in February after outsized gainsU.S. job growth likely slowed to a five-month low in February as the weather-rel...
Read more »
Economy added just 20,000 jobs in February amid slowing growth, snowy weatherEmployers added just 20,000 jobs in Feb. 181,000 expected. Hiring likely to slow as economy weakens, low unemployment rate makes it harder to find workers
Read more »
Stock futures extend losses after weak February jobs growthU.S. stocks futures extended losses on Friday after data showed U.S. job growth ...
Read more »
U.S. February job growth weakest in nearly one and a half yearsU.S. employment growth almost stalled in February, with the economy creating onl...
Read more »