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Expectations heading into this morning showed projections of around 225,000 new jobs having been added in the United States in February. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the preliminary tally suggests the domestic job market did noticeably better than that. CNBC reported this morning:
Job creation decelerated in February but was still stronger than expected despite Federal Reserve efforts to slow the economy and bring down inflation. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 311,000 for the month, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was above the 225,000 Dow Jones estimate and a sign that the employment market is still hot.
One of the details many were watching this morning were the revisions from the last couple of months. The preliminary data a month ago showed the U.S. economy adding 517,000 jobs in January, which was stunning, but which seemed unrealistic. The newly revised total, however, suggests the initial tally was quite close: The BLS now says the economy added 504,000 jobs in January.
The fact that the data shows the unemployment rate inching higher might seem somewhat discouraging, but it’s worth emphasizing for context that the rate is still vastly lower than it was when President Joe Biden was inaugurated — it’s fallen from 6.3% to 3.6% — and it’s still hovering around a 50-year low. In fact, the level is one the United States did not reach at any point throughout the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s.
I’m mindful of the chatter about whether the economy is in a recession, but by any sane measure, these are not recession-like conditions.
As for the politics, let’s circle back to previous coverage to put the data in perspective. Over the course of the first three years of Donald Trump’s presidency — when the Republican said the United States’ economy was the greatest in the history of the planet — the economy created roughly 6.35 million jobs, spanning all of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
According to the latest tally, the U.S. economy has created over 12.8 million jobs since January 2021 — roughly double the combined total of Trump’s first three years.
In recent months, Republicans have responded to developments like these by pretending not to notice them. I have a hunch GOP officials will keep the trend going today.
This post is a revised version of our related earlier coverage.