CNN
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\n Employment growth rebounded in February as the US economy added 151,000 jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n The unemployment rate, however, edged up to 4.1% from 4% the month before. The labor force participation rate slipped as well.\n <\/p>\n
\n Employment growth came in a little under economists\u2019 expectations for a 160,000-job gain, but picked up from January, a month where wildfires and weather likely affected the numbers: January\u2019s payroll growth was revised down to 125,000 from 143,000.\n <\/p>\n
\n On one hand, February\u2019s jobs report marks another month of seemingly solid job gains and a continuation of a historic expansion of the US labor market.\n <\/p>\n
\n On the other, it provides a \u201ca snapshot of a prior age, before the shift in federal government policies undermined confidence,\u201d Samuel Tombs, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note to investors on Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s either the calm before the calm, or the calm before the storm,\u201d economist Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida\u2019s Institute for Economic Forecasting, wrote Friday.\n <\/p>\n
\n In recent weeks, the Trump administration has made monumental policy shifts \u2014 including large-scale federal layoffs, funding cutbacks, a back-and-forth on tariffs and mass deportations \u2014 that have spilled into the broader economy, shaking business and consumer confidence, and tripping several economic warning signals.\n <\/p>\n
\n However, the Department of Government Efficiency-driven employment cuts weren\u2019t expected to make a big splash in February\u2019s jobs report. That\u2019s partly because of timing of the two surveys that feed into the monthly employment snapshot and also due to the structure of employment separation agreements.\n <\/p>\n
\n Still, Friday\u2019s report gave a hint of what could come: The federal government posted a loss of 10,000 jobs for the month, with 3,500 of those losses coming from the US Postal Service.\n <\/p>\n
\n That dampened employment gains in the broader public sector, which has been one of three key drivers (health care and leisure and hospitality being the others) of overall job growth with most of the credit going to strong gains in state and local governments.\n <\/p>\n
\n In February, the overall government sector gained only 11,000 jobs, the lowest monthly total since April 2024. For the federal government, it was the worst month for job losses since June 2022.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe economy is off to a slow start under the new president,\u201d Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FwdBonds, wrote in commentary on Friday. \u201cYou can\u2019t have mass firings of federal workers and government contractors and think it is not going to mean job losses for the private sector.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s expected to be the case in the weeks and months to come, according to new data released Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which has tracked layoff announcements since 1993. The number of job cuts announced in February was north of 172,000, marking the 12th highest total on record.\n <\/p>\n
\n The health care sector, which has been the biggest driver of employment growth in recent years, continued to post strong gains, adding 52,000 jobs last month. However, the top job creator, sector that relies heavily on federal support (including funding and grants) is also under threat: President Donald Trump is reining in federal spending as he aims to extend his costly 2017 tax cuts.\n <\/p>\n