U.S. workers are finally seeing the light as employers stepped up hiring last month. The country has infused the job market with an additional 242,000 jobs in February. The total number is much better than the 172,000 jobs added in January.
This is a sign that the U.S. labor market is getting stronger which could lead to further easing of fears that the economy is again heading to another recession. If this trend continues, there will be no reason for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.
In the employment report of the U.S. Labor Department released on Friday, non-farm payrolls increased by 190,000 last month. Based on a Reuters report, the unemployment rate remains steady at a low 4.9 percent, the lowest in eight years.
In January, there were 151,000 jobs added in the labor market boosted by the warmest weathers in the country, mostly in the weather-sensitive industries such as construction. This helped the increases in payrolls to an average of 279,000 jobs every month in Q4 of last year.
These figures show that U.S. workers were largely unaffected by the global slowdown. Job growth was steady and workers' wages are beginning to pick up. These trends are validated on Friday's February employment report.
The added jobs by construction companies, health care providers and retailers have largely counterbalanced the layoffs by fossil fuel companies and some manufacturers. These two industrial sectors have felt the pressures of volatility in China, the economic slowdown in Europe, the falling oil prices and a re-invigorated dollar.
U.S. consumers were the ones who provided much of the improvement in the job market in what appears to be a self-sustaining cycle. In the past 12 months, 2.7 million were added to the workforce, boosting consumer spending in housing, cars, and meals out.
With unemployment at its lowest levels in years, additional companies were encouraged to raise wages to attract more workers, thus inducing more hiring as consumers' spending and saving capacity has increased.
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