U.S. employers added a robust 235,000 jobs in February and raised pay at a healthy pace, evidence that the economy remains on solid footing nearly eight years after the Great Recession ended.
As The Associated Press reports, the unemployment rate dipped to a low 4.7% from 4.8%, the Labor Department says. More people began looking for jobs, increasing the proportion of Americans working or looking for work to the highest level in nearly a year.
The strong job growth, decent pay gains and low unemployment rate make it all but certain that the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates when it meets next week.
February’s job gains were boosted by 58,000 additional construction positions, the most in nearly a decade. That figure was likely enhanced by unseasonably warm weather in much of the nation.
Today’s report was the first to cover a full month under President Donald Trump. Trump has already tweeted cheerfully about a survey of private-sector hiring released earlier this week.
That survey, by payroll provider ADP, concluded that private employers added 298,000 jobs in February, the biggest monthly gain in three years.
