US hiring in February was surprisingly weak – complicating the path to interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as the conflict in Iran reheats inflation fears.
US employment declined by 92,000 in February – a sharp slowdown from an increase of 126,000 in January and far below estimates of an added 50,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday morning.
Hiring in February was surprisingly weak, signaling the labor market might not be as stable as Federal Reserve officials hoped. Bloomberg via Getty Images The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, from 4.3% the previous month, according to government data.
