US non-farm payrolls grow more quickly than expected in February, but details softer

(Sharecast News) - Hiring in the U.S. continued at a strong clip last month, albeit alongside a very clear slowdown in wage growth. Furthermore, downwards revisions to the data for the previous two months and an increase in the unemployment rate appeared to reflect a weaker underlying picture.

According to the Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls jumped by 275,000 in February.

That easily surpassed the 198,000 consensus forecast as compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

But the non-farm payrolls readings for December and January were revised down by a combined -167k to 290,000 and 229,000, respectively.

Average hourly earnings rose by 0.14% (consensus: 0.2%),

The rate of unemployment meanwhile, which is derived from a different survey than the one which generates the payrolls figures, increased by two tenths of a percentage point to 3.7%.

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