- February saw job losses across nearly all sectors, including health care and construction.
- Unemployment rate increased to 4.4%, surpassing economists' expectations of stability.
- Labor force participation fell to 62%, indicating worker discouragement amid economic fluctuations.
- Revisions showed prior months lost an additional 69,000 jobs, contrasting earlier growth reports.
- Wage growth continued at 3.8% annually despite the overall cooling labor market.
U.S. job growth took a dive in February as employers cut 92,000 jobs, signaling an unexpected weakness in the labor market, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3% in January. The figures caught economists off guard; analysts had expected the economy to add 50,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.3%, NBC News reported.
Job losses spanned nearly all sectors, including factories, construction and the federal government. Even the health care industry, historically a strength in the job market, saw declines fueled by a nurses’ strike, according to NPR.
The February contraction follows a January report that originally showed employers adding 130,000 positions, as Deseret News previously reported.
The bureau revised January’s payroll numbers from 130,000 to 126,000 in its recent report. December’s figures were also trimmed, showing a net loss of 17,000 jobs. With these revisions, 2025 became the first year to record five months of labor market contractions since 2010, when the U.S. was recovering from the global financial crisis, NBC News reported.
Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, noted that along with the job contraction and revisions falling, so did the labor force participation.
“Downward revisions for the previous two months of December and January add further insult to injury,” he wrote. “Labor force participation, gauging those working and looking for work fell to 62%, a worrying sign that some workers were discouraged amid the softening seen over the past year.”
Wage growth continues amid cooling market
Despite the data, U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-Deremer remained optimistic.
“While record-breaking strikes and bad winter weather dragged down February nonfarm employment, the unemployment rate held steady, and there are several positive signs for our economy,” Chavez-Deremer said in a statement Friday.
She added that while federal employment is at a record low, private-sector growth rose by 500,000 during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, with 60,000 jobs created so far this year.
The weak jobs report comes as Americans face rising energy costs due to the war in Iran. AAA reported Friday that the average price of gasoline increased another 7 cents overnight to $3.32 a gallon, up 21 cents from the same time last year.
However, those with jobs continue to see gains. Average wages in February were up 3.8% from a year ago, according to NPR.
Utah’s employment outlook
In Utah, the most recent data from the Utah Department of Workforce Services placed the average statewide unemployment rate at 3.6% for both November and December, as previously reported by Deseret News.
“Utah’s economy remains ahead of the U.S. in job expansion and low unemployment,” said Ben Crabb, chief economist with the Department of Workforce Services, in a statement.
Crabb noted, however, that a decline in labor force participation suggests some Utahns are stepping away as the market cools.