Job losses in February exceeded projections, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 92,000, above estimates of 50,000, in February.
February marks the third time in five months that employment has declined. Revisions in the February data indicate that employment declined by 17,000 in December rather than increase by 48,000. January job growth was downwardly revised to 126,000 from 130,000.
Declines were more prominent in the health care, information, and federal government sectors. The construction industry lost 11,000 jobs in February, according to an analysis of BLS data by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). On a year-over-year basis, construction employment has increased by 42,000 jobs.
The construction unemployment rate in February was 6.9%, well above the national average of 4.4%.
“Construction employment shrank again in February and has now declined in eight of the past 11 months,” says ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. “Both the residential and nonresidential segments lost jobs for the month.”
The count of unemployed people was little changed in February at 7.6 million. The number of long-term unemployed—those jobless for 27 weeks or more—changed little at 1.9 million and accounted for 25.3% of all unemployed people.
The labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio remained stable at 62% and 59.3%, respectively.
