February Jobs Report Brings More Confusing Economic News

The US jobs report for February 2023 saw another increase in the number of jobs available for the month adding 311,000, outpacing expectations.

This is a major positive for the US economy, as it signals that the labor market is continuing to recover from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

The report also showed that the unemployment rate moved up slightly from 3.4% to 3.6%. While job creation decelerated in February, it was still stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow the economy and bring down inflation.

Despite the data, many people are still concerned about the state of our economy. So, are these numbers just a fa?ade?

For example, there were big employment gains in industries like leisure and hospitality, retail, and even construction, despite the housing market softening.

“The US labor market is undoubtedly still strong, but the softer February data fits with our view that it will weaken over the course of 2023 as consumer spending eventually slows,” said Cailin Birch, global economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.?

Here are my summary bullets:

• Unemployment moved up slightly from 3.4% to 3.6% last month
• The job market is still strong
• BLS reported over 300,000 jobs were added last month
• There are almost 11 million job openings nationwide
• Strong job gains were seen in leisure/hospitality, retail, government and healthcare
• Employment declined in transportation and warehousing

What does this mean? (Here are my thoughts atleast...)

• The job market remains strong….there are roughly two job openings for every unemployment person looking for employment
• Inflation remains a major concern
• Wages are increasing but generally are woefully lagging the current inflation rate, which is deep into the 6% range.?

We shall see what happens this March, as a major bank failed Friday impacting global markets. Will the economy tip into a recession? While the data certainly doesn't show signs of that yet, we can be sure that this last report was a good one....or, was it a fa?ade?

We answered that question in our last Zenith Search Podcast series, watch below to see our take:

For more stories, or, if you’d like to sign up to share your story, message us in the comments. We would love to get you on our next podcast episode!