Unemployment crept up, while job numbers showed a surprise reversal from growth in the previous month
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 5:09am, 7 Mar 2026The US unexpectedly lost jobs in February while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday, piling pressure on President Donald Trump’s economic agenda as key midterm elections approach.
The world’s biggest economy shed 92,000 jobs last month, in a sharp reversal from the job growth of 126,000 in January, the Labour Department said.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, crept up to 4.4 per cent from 4.3 per cent.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett insisted Friday that the US economy remained “really strong”, telling CNBC that observers should consider the average job growth over a few months instead of focusing on monthly fluctuations.
But Chuck Schumer, who leads the Senate’s Democratic minority, swiftly criticised the report as a “blaring alarm” that Trump’s economy was “deteriorating rapidly”.
“Tariffs are increasing costs, gas prices are spiking, and jobs are evaporating,” Schumer said.
