Employers Add a Solid 151,000 Jobs in February

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WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a solid 151,000 jobs last month, but the outlook is cloudy as President Donald Trump threatens a trade war, purges the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants.

The Labor Department reported Feb. 7 that hiring was up from a revised 125,000 in January. Economists had expected 160,000 new jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1% as the number jobless Americans rose by 203,000.

Employment rose in health care, finance and transportation and warehousing. The federal government shed 10,000 jobs, the most since June 2022, though economists don’t expect Trump’s federal layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report.

Payroll employment rises by 151,000 in February; unemployment rate changes little at 4.1% https://t.co/ZwrVfLviqL#JobsReport#BLSdata — BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) March 7, 2025

The job market has been remarkably resilient over the past year despite high interest rates.

“Despite rising concerns about the health of the economy, momentum remains positive,’’ Lydia Boussour, senior economist at the tax and consulting firm EY, wrote in a commentary.

Hiring continued despite high interest rates that had been expected to tip the United States into recession. The economy’s unexpectedly strong recovery from the pandemic recession of 2020 set loose an inflationary surge that peaked in June 2022 when prices came in 9.1% higher than they’d been a year earlier.

In response, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate