February 2016 Unemployment Rate, Jobs

The February Jobs Reports were released this morning, Friday, March 4. The economy added 242,000 new jobs, a larger number than expected, while the unemployment rate stayed the same at 4.9%.

March 2016 reports will be released Friday morning, April 1st.  Check HERE after 9 a.m. EDT.

The number of jobs added was about 50,000 MORE than the expected by the various pundits.  We have continued to break records in the streak of months of consecutive job growth, both in the total number of jobs and in the number of private jobs.  We now have 72 months of consecutive PRIVATE sector job growth (since Feburary 2010) and 65 months of consecutive TOTAL jobs growth (since September 2010).

Remember that jobs numbers are seasonally adjusted.

From the BLS Employment Situation report: 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised from +262,000 to +271,000, and the change for January was revised from +151,000 to +172,000. With these revisions, employment gains in December and January combined were 30,000 more than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 228,000 per month. 

February Highlights:

• 242,000 total new payroll jobs.
• 230,000 new private sector jobs.
• 12,000 increase in the number of government jobs.
• These numbers are higher than the 190,000 new jobs estimated by the various "pundits". 
• The unemployment rate stayed the same at 4.9% as the number of unemployed increased slightly by 24,000 and as the number of people employed increased significantly by 530,000.  The number of people in the labor force (people working PLUS people actively looking for work) increased by 555,000. 
• The number of people NOT in the labor force (This includes people 16 years of age and older who are in school, retired, home with children, etc.) decreased by 374,000 to 93,688,000 due to the large number of people entering the labor force.   
• The labor force participation rate increased by .2% to 62.9% due to the large number of people entering or re-entering the labor force.  (This is the highest the labor force participation rate has been for over a year.)
• Year over year, we have about 2,000,000 MORE people in the labor force DESPITE large numbers of Baby Boomers retiring.  Remember that there is NO ideal labor force participation rate.  Also remember that most of the overall decrease in the labor force participation rate is due to these large numbers of retiring Baby Boomers.
• Alternate unemployment rate declined .2% to 9.7% after staying the same for three months.  (This is due mostly to a decrease in the number of "marginally attached" workers, those who say they want a job and have looked in the past year, but did not look for work in the past month.  It also includes discouraged workers, a number which has declined by 133,000 or 18% over the past year.) 
• The number of people working full-time increased by 65,000 last month.
• The number of people working part-time increased by about 489,000 last month, but most of those people (about 304,000) were working part-time by choice. 
• The number of people working part-time INVOLUNTARILY stayed exactly the same and the number of people working part-time VOLUNTARILY INCREASED by 304,000.  
• There are 2.4 million MORE people working full-time than there were a year ago, and 440,000 MORE people working part-time than a year ago.
• As mentioned above, the BLS increased the December jobs numbers from +262,000 to +271,000 and increased the January jobs numbers from +151,000 to +172,000.  Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged a very healthy 228,000 per month.

Since Obama took office (January 2009):

• 9.5 million MORE jobs in total
• 10.0 million MORE private sector jobs
• 8.9 million MORE people working
• 7.4 million MORE people working full-time
• 1.5 million MORE people working part-time
• 1.9 million FEWER people working part-time INVOLUNTARILY  

Since the "trough" of the recession in late 2009/early 2010:

• 13.8 million MORE jobs in total
• 14.3 million MORE private sector jobs
• 13    million MORE people working
• 12.7 million MORE people working full-time.
• 1.2   million MORE people working part-time.
• 3.3 million FEWER people working part-time INVOLUNTARILY.   

February 2016 reports: (As usual, notation on the links will be changed to "UPDATED for February" when the updated reports become available later today or over the weekend.  Not all reports are updated every month.) 

• What Was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office (compared to today)?  Not yet updated
• How Many Jobs Created or Lost Under Obama? - Full-time vs. Part-time? - Updated for FEBRUARY 2016
• How Many Jobs Lost or Gained in February 2015? - Not yet published.
• Private Sector Job Loss/Growth Since 2008 w/ Graph - Not yet updated.
• How Many Jobs Were Created in 2015? - Not yet finalized.
• Jobs Lost/Gained Year by Year Since 1999 - Not yet updated.
• How Many People Have Been Fired in 2014 or 2015?  Updated with numbers through May 2015
• How Many People Left or Joined the Work Force (Civilian Labor Force) Since Obama Took Office? - Not yet updated.
• 93 Million People Not in the Labor Force? Who are those people?  Latest update is for April 2015
• How Many Government Jobs Lost or Added Under Obama? - Not yet updated.

More highlights and reports will continue to be posted here throughout the day and over the weekend.  Please check back!