Nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. economy rose by 275,000 in February, well above the 200,000 that economists expected, while the unemployment rate rose for the first time in four months.
Friday's report also brought a revision to January's statistics. After an originally expected increase of 353,000 jobs, revisions now show a more modest 229,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls for the month.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.7% in January.
The jobs data will be added to the data the Federal Reserve will consider before making its next interest rate decision later this month.
According to Bloomberg data, here are the key numbers Wall Street will be looking at compared to last month.
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Nonfarm payrolls: 275,000 vs. estimated +200,000 (previously +353,000)
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Unemployment rate: 3.9% vs. estimated 3.7% (was 3.7%)
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Average hourly wage, month over month: 0.1 vs. +0.2% expected (previously +0.6%)
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Average hourly wage, YoY: 4.3 vs. estimated +4.3% (previously +4.5%)
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Average weekly working hours: 34.3 vs. 34.3 (previously 34.1)
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in his semiannual testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the labor market is “relatively tight,” but that “supply and demand “The situation continues to be balanced.”
Markets were betting on Friday's report that the Fed's first rate cut would come in June, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Investors are pricing in three to four rate cuts this year, according to Bloomberg data.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.
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