'Unambiguously Strong': Economists React To The February Jobs Report On Twitter
The U.S. economy added 678,000 jobs in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, significantly higher than consensus expectations.
The unemployment rate dropped from 4% to 3.8%, well below February 2021, when it was 6.2%.
Job growth was widespread across sectors, but gains were particularly strong in real estate-related industries like leisure and hospitality, construction and retail trade.
Leisure and hospitality added 179,000 jobs in February, 124,000 of which were at food services and drinking places. Employment in leisure and hospitality is still down 1.5 million jobs when compared to February 2020.
The construction industry added 60,000 jobs in February after seeing little change in January. Construction employment is now only 11,000 jobs short of its February 2020 level.
Retail trade added 37,000 jobs in February and now has 104,000 more jobs than it did when Covid-19 hit in February 2020.
Here's how economists and others reacted to February's Jobs Report on Twitter.
Today's February #JobsReport shows a jobs recovery persisting undeterred as the Omicron wave recedes. Job gains totaled 678,000. Unemployment ticked down to 3.8%
— Daniel Zhao (@DanielBZhao) March 4, 2022
After Jan's surprising report, today's report provides reassurance that the job market recovery remains strong.
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Non-farm payrolls grew by a strong 678,000 in February. That means that over 90% of the jobs lost at the start of the pandemic have been recouped. If monthly gains continue at this pace of 678,000, we could return to the pre-COVID employment peak by June 2022. pic.twitter.com/EkcMPU8GaB
— Odeta Kushi (@odetakushi) March 4, 2022
Strong job gains across the board in February
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) March 4, 2022
Restaurants +124,000
Biz +95,000
Healthcare +64,000 (20k in home health care)
Construction +60,000
Warehouse/transport +48,000
Retail +37,000
Manufacturing +36,000
Financial +31,000
Hotel +28,000
Local education +14,800
Mining +9,000
From Southbay Research:
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 4, 2022
"A back-to-the-office trend is clearly in place as well: Laundry and Dry Cleaning payrolls jumped +9K"
Happy Jobs Day! Parents get to work when their kids have care. Childcare jobs grew 8K in Feb; also relevant, a year-to-year growth of 64K jobs added in childcare services compared to Feb 2021. Home health care service jobs grew 20K. The care economy is chugging along...
— Misty Heggeness (@m_heggeness) March 4, 2022
Another very good U.S. #employment report. Digging into the details, it is clear that the #pandemic's impact on peoples' ability to work is diminishing. pic.twitter.com/Ug6pYtJRy7
— Carl R. Tannenbaum (@NT_CTannenbaum) March 4, 2022
Avg hourly earnings in construction are up 6.0% on a YoY basis in Feb., the fastest pace since 1982. Attract and retain more builders & there will be more ground-breaking on new homes. pic.twitter.com/tva7votAus
— Odeta Kushi (@odetakushi) March 4, 2022
Even with recent gains, leisure and hospitality remains 1.5 million below pre-pandemic levels. Public sector employment--losses in state and local government--remain 681,000 below pre-pandemic levels. pic.twitter.com/ZeCzA9IMWk
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) March 4, 2022
I don't often write this, but: This was an unambiguously strong jobs report. Strong payrolls growth. Similar strength in the household survey. Broad-based gains. People getting back to work. Robust revisions. And signs that wage growth may not be the constraint some had feared.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) March 4, 2022
This is a really nice report. BUT… given fiscal tightening, monetary tightening and spiking energy prices, I’d expect numbers to be less impressive (on average) during the remainder of the year even in a relatively benign scenario
— Guy Berger (@EconBerger) March 4, 2022
In sum,
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) March 4, 2022
- Steady job growth continues,
- Jan's omicron illness & missed work partially but incompletely recovered in Feb,
- will public health & job quality improve enough to entice age 55+ back into labor force?
