3/11/2024: 275K Jobs Added in February
The February jobs report was out last Friday. 275K jobs were added in February vs. 198K expected. The unemployment rate inched up to 3.9% vs. 3.7% expected . The labor force participation rate was 62.5% in February, still down from February 2020 level of 63.3%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.1% MoM and 4.3% YoY. The number of jobs added in January was sharply revised down to 229K from 353K. It appears the job market has cooled down a bit.
The February CPI report will be released tomorrow. I am curious if we will see a continuing slowdown on inflation. I am doing a bit of house renovations lately. I can tell you the price is still going up like crazy in the SF bay area. But I am in Silicon Valley with all the concentrated magnificent seven wealth so my observation is very skewed. But with the unemployment rate low and stock market going up like crazy, I won’t be surprised if the inflation creeps up again.