Labor Department Issues Strong February Jobs Report

The New York Times reports:

Employers added 311,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday, continuing a hotter-than-anticipated streak that has created abundant opportunities for job seekers while frustrating the Federal Reserve in its drive to contain stubborn inflation.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6 percent, still an exceptionally low level brought about both by robust job creation and workers’ slow return to the labor force after the pandemic.

The job market has remained a persistent source of dynamism in the economy even as other elements have either lost their steam or yielded to higher interest rates. The prime age labor force participation — the number of people working or looking for work — is back to 83.1 percent, the pre-pandemic mark.

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