U.S companies continue to add jobs in February despite the rising Coronavirus concerns

The employment change in the U.S nonfarm sector posted wider growth than previously estimated in February. The data suggested businesses in the United States to have expanded hiring despite the rising risks of Coronavirus.

In its announcement on Friday, the Labor Department announced 273K new jobs added to the U.S economy in February. The unemployment rate, as per its report, was capped at 3.5% that came in line with the lowest recorded in the U.S in over 5 decades. An alternative indicator that focuses primarily on the part-time workers that are not currently seeking work opportunities surged to 7% in February.

Economists Forecast For Job Growth And Unemployment Rate

February’s data remained unchanged as compared to January that also printed a gain of 273K new jobs in the U.S nonfarm sector. At 273K, it was branded the best reading since May 2018. Economists, on the other hand, were expecting 175K new jobs in February while their estimate for the unemployment rate was also revealed at 3.5%.

Other economic data on Friday highlighted a 3% growth in average hourly earnings in 2019 that matched the forecast. The average workweek that is commonly considered a key indicator of productivity climbed to 34.4 hours in the United States.

Data for the previous two months was also upwardly revised to 184K new positions in December (from the previous 147K), and 273K for January (from the previous 225K). With the revised data, the last three months boasted an average of 243K versus a much lower 178K monthly average in employment change in the U.S nonfarm sector in 2019.

Figures For Job Growth From Different Sectors

In terms of job creation, the Healthcare sector took the lead with 57K new positions in February. Food services, bars, and other drinking places amounted to 53,000 new jobs while employment in the government sector followed in the footsteps with 45K in February. The construction sector contributed 42K while 32K new jobs came from professional and technical services. Lastly, the finance sector created 26K new jobs in February.

Friday’s economic data stirred optimism in the otherwise weak U.S dollar index. Eur/Usd was reported to have surged as high as 1.1355 earlier on Friday. Following the release of the aforementioned data, however, the pair dropped back around 70 pips and closed the last week at 1.1289 level. Having broken the crucial 1.13 resistance, further upside can be expected in the currency pair in the upcoming weeks.