Trump's First Jobs Report: 235,000 Jobs Added

This number easily topped economist expectations of roughly 200,000 jobs added for the month and virtually assures the country of a rate hike at the upcoming March FOMC meeting. In addition, the possibility of additional hikes throughout the rest of the year also increased with today's jobs report.
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The number of employed Americans increased by 447,000 to 152,528,000 in February, while the number of unemployed fell by 107,000 to 7,528,000. The labor force participation rate increased from 62.9% to 63.0%, while the unemployment rate dropped from 4.8% to 4.7%.
The number of Americans "not in the labor force" (meaning, neither employed or unemployed) fell by 94,366,000 to 94,190,000.
The unemployment rate for adult men fell from 4.4% to 4.3%, while the unemployment rate for adult women also fell from 4.4% to 4.3%.
The U-6 unemployment rate, which is an alternative measure of labor underutilization, fell from 9.4% to 9.2%. This number includes a number of people that are not included in the "official" unemployment rate, including discouraged workers and those who have part-time work but want to work full-time.
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The biggest takeaway from today's news is that a March interest rate increase is a virtual certainty and two additional hikes this year are a distinct possibility as well.
The markets liked the report, as the DJIA, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all finished higher on the day.
Filed under: General Knowledge