Jobs Drop by 92,000 in February After Good January Report

On Friday, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update.

According to the Committee, in February, 92,000 jobs were lost (-86K private sector, -6K government) after a stronger than expected showing in January. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.3 percent to 4.4 percent while the labor force participation rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 62 percent. The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.9 percent.

Revised numbers from December show 65,000 fewer jobs from a gain of 45,000 to end with a loss of 17,000 jobs. January’s report revised down by 4,000 from a gain of 130,000 to end at 126,000. Taken together, employment in December and January was down 69,000 more than previously reported.

From January to February, the best performing sectors were financial activities (+10K) and other services (+8K) and the worst performing sectors were private education and health services (-34K) and leisure and hospitality (-27K).

Year over year (February 2025 to February 2026), The best performing sectors were private education and health services (+658K) and leisure and hospitality (+126K). The worst performing sectors were federal government (-314K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-191K).

Wages increased year over year. For all employees, average hourly earnings for the 12 months ending in February rose 3.84 percent while average weekly earnings increased 4.14 percent.

Job openings also decline. From November 2025 to December 2025, the total number of nonfarm job openings decreased by 386,000 to 6.54 million, and the rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.9 percent. The best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+66K) and other services (+56K). The worst performing sectors were professional and business services (-257K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-172K).