Economy

Friday, March 07, 2025

Employment Situation Report for February 2025

The Employment Situation Report for February 2025 was released by The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning:

Nonfarm Payrolls (month-to-month change)
Actual: +151,000

Previous Month (revised): 125,000
One Year Previous: 222,000

U-3 Unemployment Rate (Headline)
Actual: 4.1%
Previous Month: 4.0%
12 Months Previous: 3.9%

U-6 Unemployment Rate*
Actual: 8.0%
Previous Month: 7.5%
12 Months Previous: 7.3%

Average Hourly Earnings (month-to-month change)
Predicted: +0.3%
Actual: +0.28% (+$0.10)

Average Hourly Earnings (year-on-year change)
Predicted: +4.0%
Actual: +4.02% (+$1.39)

Average Weekly Earnings (month-to-month change)
Actual: +0.28% (+$3.41)

Average Weekly Earnings (year-on-year change)
Actual: +3.42% (+$40.49)

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate: 62.4%
Previous Month: 62.6%
12 Months Previous: 62.6%

Average Weekly Hours: 34.1 hours
Previous Month: 34.1 hours
One Year Previous: 34.3 hours

Economist, academics, central bankers and investors pay very close attention to the monthly Employment Situation report as it offers penetrating insight as to the current and near-future state of the overall U.S. economy. If a) Americans are earning more money and b) the economy is creating new jobs, this typically translates to more money being pumped into the economy (and vice versa.)

The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

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CHART: Civilian Unemployment Rate
FEBRUARY 2005 THRU FEBRUARY 2025

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* = The U-6 Unemployment Rate is defined as:

"Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force."

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Click here to view the full Department of Labor report.

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Labels: Careers, DOGE, Earnings, employment, employment_situation, hard_data, Income, jobless, jobs, labor, Payroll_Employment, Payrolls, personal_income, Telework, Teleworked, Teleworking, unemployment, wages, Work

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Challenger Job Cuts Report for February 2025

The global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc. released its job cuts report, for February 2025:

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Job Cuts Announced During February 2025: 172,017

Previous Month: 49,795

> Change from previous month: +245.45% (+122,222 cuts)

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One-Year Previous: 84,638

> Change from one-year previous: +103.24% (+87,379 cuts)

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From Today's Report:

"...So far this year, employers have announced 221,812 job cuts, the highest year-to-date (YTD) total since 2009 when 428,099 job cuts were planned. It is up 33% from the 166,945 cuts announced during the same period in 2024.

'Private companies announced plans to shed thousands of jobs last month, particularly in Retail and Technology. With the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] actions, as well as canceled Government contracts, fear of trade wars, and bankruptcies, job cuts soared in February,' said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas..."

If corporate layoffs are high, consumer spending may decline, since there would be fewer people with steady jobs.

When corporate layoffs are low, this can mean that the job market is relatively tight, which can be a harbinger of wage inflation.

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