The United States added 151,000 jobs in February despite nearly 10,000 federal workers losing their positions, a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates.
In Friday's report, the BLS reported a slight increase in the unemployment rate from 4% in January to 4.1% in February.
The report was relatively unremarkable, as thousands of government workers lost their jobs in February.
At least in President Donald Trump's first full month in office, there were few noticeable changes in the overall U.S. workforce.
The U.S. government has been in the midst of shrinking its workforce after President Trump took office in January.
On average, the U.S. has added 168,000 jobs per month in the last year.
In the last decade, the U.S. typically added 1.9 million jobs per year, or 160,000 workers per month.
The unemployment rate has generally held steady over the last two years. The unemployment rate was around 4% throughout all of 2023.
Besides a drop in government employment, there was a 15,000-job decline in the food and beverage industry, which was mostly attributed to strikes.
Making up for losses in the government and food and beverage sectors, the healthcare industry added 52,000 jobs in February, while the financial activities sector added 21,000 positions.
