Reinforcing expectations of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of February.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 235,000 jobs in February after surging up by a revised 238,000 jobs in January.
Economists had expected employment to climb by about 195,000 jobs compared to the addition of 227,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.7 percent in February from 4.8 percent in January, matching expectations.
The report also said the annual rate of growth in average hourly employee earnings accelerated to 2.8 percent in February from 2.6 percent in January.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.