The unemployment rate was 4.4% in February, with 130,000 jobs added in January
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The US lost 92,000 jobs in February, a major slackening in the labor market that came just before Donald Trump threw the global economy into upheaval with his conflict in Iran.
The unemployment rate edged up to 4.4% in February. In comparison, the US added 130,000 jobs in January, far surpassing expectations of 70,000 jobs but still 13,000 less than January 2025. Economists predicted an increase of 60,000 jobs added in February and a steady unemployment rate of 4.3%.
January’s job report also included revisions that brought down the total number of jobs added to the economy in 2025 to 181,000 jobs – the weakest year of job growth since Covid and a substantial decrease from the 2m jobs added to the US economy in 2024. And the job growth in 2025 was concentrated in the first half of the year: from July to December 2025, the US economy lost 45,000 jobs.
