February Jobs Report Weakest in 30 Months
The economy produced only 20,000 new jobs in February for its weakest showing since September 2017, according to the Labor Department’s monthly report.
While unemployment declined from 4 percent to 3.8 percent and employment in wholesale trade, professional and business services, and health care trended upward in February, construction jobs declined by 31,000, a possibly worrisome sign.
Economic analysts offered a range of reactions to news of the weak job-creation numbers. Some, citing projections of slower economic growth in the first quarter of 2019, expressed concern over the report’s lackluster numbers, pointing out that economists had expected around 180,000 jobs to be added in February. Others speculated that the economy may be close to job saturation. And others argued that the economy was still resetting from the 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, which lasted from the end of December to January.
Yet others pointed to the long-term trend — a record 101 consecutive months of positive job-creation numbers — as a better indication of the direction of the economy.
On Twitter, President Trump was quick to downplay economists’ concerns after the report’s release.
“This is as good a time as I can remember to be an American Worker. We have the strongest economy in the world.” Stuart Varney @foxandfriends So true!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2019
