February jobs report is expected to show hiring uptick, unemployment rate holding steady

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Yahoo Finance
February jobs report is expected to show hiring uptick, unemployment rate holding steady

Josh Schafer • Reporter
Thu, March 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM EST • 3 min read

The February jobs report is expected to show hiring picked up in February, while the unemployment rate held steady. This comes at a crucial moment for markets as stocks have recently been floundering amid fears about economic growth weakening in the US.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly jobs report is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to have risen by 160,000 in February, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4%, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

In January, the US economy added 143,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4%. … With markets in a slump — amid a string of weaker-than-expected economic growth data — Citi head of US equity trading strategy Stuart Kaiser told Yahoo Finance that Friday's jobs report is a "pretty significant risk to the market."

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Here are the numbers Wall Street is expecting Friday, according to data from Bloomberg:

• Nonfarm payrolls: +160,000 vs. +143,000 in January
• Unemployment rate: 4.0% vs. 4.0% in January
• Average hourly earnings, month over month: +0.3% vs. +0.5%
• Average hourly earnings, year over year: +4.1% vs. +4.1%
• Average weekly hours worked: 34.2 vs. 34.1 in January.

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