<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - Unemployment rate remains low, but GOP says Americans still struggling"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><em>Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the month in which job gains were revised from 353,000 to 229,000. The January numbers were restated.</em></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">U.S. employers added a robust 275,000 jobs in February as hiring stayed strong despite high <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/03/06/fed-interest-rate-cuts-powell/72846917007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">interest rates</a>, persistent <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/02/13/inflation-how-its-affecting-consumers-now/72576975007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">inflation</a> and uncertainty about the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/01/25/economy-slowed-fourth-quarter/72346150007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">economic outlook</a> in a presidential election year.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">But payroll gains for December and January were revised down by an outsized 167,000, portraying a much weaker picture of the recent labor market. January's booming 353,000 employment gains were downgraded significantly to 229,000, though that's still a sturdy total.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">And the unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 3.9%, the highest since January 2022, the Labor Department said Friday.</p><aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Economists had estimated that 200,000 jobs were added in February, according to a Bloomberg survey.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">For some forecasters, steady downward revisions to the payroll totals since early last year add to evidence that 2024 will bring a sharp slowdown in job growth.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">"The current trend in payrolls is steady, but a clear downturn is coming," says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics.</p><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em_ifg" data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="loadInfogram" data-v-id="_/chdryVI9HkqMaxuvjjLe" aria-label="Embedded infographic - jobs" style="width:660px;min-height:150px"><a target="_blank" class="gnt_em_ifg_ph" href="https://infogram.com/_/chdryVI9HkqMaxuvjjLe" aria-label="Infographic in fullscreen - jobs" rel="nofollow noopener"></aside><h2 class="gnt_ar_b_h2">Are wages catching up to inflation?</h2><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Average hourly pay rose 5 cents to $34.57, pushing down the yearly increase from 4.4% to 4.3%. </p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">In January, cold and snowy weather in the Northeast and Midwest reduced the number of hours many employees worked and so artificially bumped up their hourly pay, economists say. Those effects largely...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/03/08/february-jobs-report/72883297007/">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
