The U.S. Surprises Estimates by Adding 313,000 Jobs

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment report for February 2018. It surpassed and surprised analysts’ estimates by adding 313,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for the fifth consecutive month, the lowest rate in 17 years. Analysts had expected that the U.S. had added about 200,000 jobs and that the pool of potential workers has been depleting. These new figures suggest otherwise; the last time the U.S. experienced large gains with low unemployment was during the economic boom of the 1990s. The U.S. has added over 500,000 new jobs since the start of 2018, and the labor force participation rate has increased as well - its best one month gain in over 8 years. [more...]