Date: March 6th, 2026 9:21 AM
Author: queensbridge benzo
“U.S. ECONOMY
U.S. Lost 92,000 Jobs in February
The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday, missing expectations.
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The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday, missing expectations.
That was short of January’s gain of 126,000 jobs, and worse than the gain of 50,000 jobs that economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
The unemployment rate was 4.4%.
The labor market slowed markedly last year, with the U.S. adding the fewest jobs outside of a recession since 2003. That was in part due to the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce through a combination of layoffs and voluntary buyouts, but it also reflected the cautious approach to hiring that many businesses adopted to combat uncertainty about tariffs and other policy measures. Expectations that artificial intelligence could reduce staffing needs might have further cut into hiring plans.
Despite some high-profile announcements, the overall level of layoffs remains low. But businesses are limiting the number of new workers they take on. Moreover, job growth was highly uneven, with the healthcare and social-assistance sectors driving gains over the past year, and most other sectors shedding jobs.
The job slowdown, alongside persistent cost-of-living concerns, has eaten into Americans’ confidence. In its most recent survey of consumers, the University of Michigan found that 58% of respondents expected unemployment to rise over the next year.
Even so, while the unemployment rate has drifted higher over the past year, it remains low by historical standards. And economists are hopeful that job growth will be better this year, particularly as tax cuts flow into the economy—though the Iran war, and the gasoline-price increases it has brought on, add a new wrinkle.
Write to Justin Lahart at Justin.Lahart@wsj.com
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The job slowdown, alongside persistent cost-of-living concerns, has eaten into Americans’ confidence. In its most recent survey of consumers, the University of Michigan found that 58% of respondents expected unemployment to rise over the next ”
Excerpt From
“U.S. Lost 92,000 Jobs in February”
The Wall Street Journal
https://apple.news/AsgLzQznDTxi4Od75mQoqHA
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