The economy lost 92,000 jobs in February

The US labor market showed signs of cooling ahead of the new international crisis linked to the conflict with Iran.

Negocios Now Editorial Staff

The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, an unexpected result that reflects a weakening labor market. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4%, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report contrasts with the figures for January, when the economy added 126,000 jobs after a downward revision from the initially reported 130,000.

Economists had expected around 60,000 jobs to be created in February and for the unemployment rate to remain at 4.3%, so the final result surprised analysts.

Furthermore, the report revised previous labor market data. The December figures went from showing a gain of 48,000 jobs to reflecting a loss of 17,000.

Taken together, these revisions reduce job growth in 2025 to about 181,000 positions, the weakest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic and well below the nearly two million jobs created in 2024.

Job losses were spread across several sectors of the economy. The healthcare sector saw a sharp turnaround: after adding 77,000 jobs in January, it lost 28,000 in February.

Much of this decline was due to strikes in doctors’ offices, which eliminated about 37,000 jobs. Other sectors that also contracted were information services—which includes media and telecommunications—and transportation and warehousing, each losing around 11,000 jobs.

Employment in the federal government also continued to decline. In February, an additional 10,000 jobs were lost, and since peaking in October 2014, the number of federal workers has fallen by about 11%, equivalent to roughly 330,000 fewer jobs.

Although overall unemployment has remained relatively stable, significant disparities persist among demographic groups. The unemployment rate among African American workers stood at 7.7% in February, after reaching 8.2% at the end of 2015.

In contrast, unemployment among white workers remains below the national average, at around 3.7%. For some economists, the data reflects an increasingly strained labor market.

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