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Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in February, slightly below the expectation of 170,000. In addition to the February gain being weaker than expected, January and December’s job gains were revised downward by a combined 2,000 jobs, with January’s gain revised downward by 18,000 and December’s gain revised upward by 16,000. The 12-month average stands at 162,250 job gains per month. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% to 4.1%, while the labor force participation rate edged down 0.2% to 62.4%.

Manufacturing employment rose by 10,000, but the January gain of 3,000 was revised downward to a loss of 5,000 jobs. The most significant gains in manufacturing in February occurred in motor vehicles and parts, which added 8,900 jobs over the month, recovering some of the 10,400 jobs lost in January. Meanwhile, the most significant losses occurred in computer and electronic product manufacturing, which shed 2,700 jobs over the month.

The employment-population ratio fell 0.2% to 59.9% and is down a slight 0.2 percentage points from a year ago. Employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons increased by 460,000 to 4.94 million and are up from 4.37 million in February 2024. Native-born employment is up 284,000 over the month and 1,544,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is down 87,000 over the month but still up 685,000 over the year.

Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.3%, or 10 cents, reaching $35.93. Over the past year, earnings have grown 4.0%. The average workweek for all employees and manufacturing employees stayed the same at 34.1 hours and 40.1 hours, respectively.