According to the US Department of Labor, in February the number of jobs in the economy increased by 311 thousand. Analysts on average predicted an increase in the number of jobs by 225 thousand. Thus, the growth of the US labor market slowed down in February, but still turned out to be stronger than predicted, despite the efforts of the Federal Reserve System to slow down the economy and reduce inflation. According to the revised data, in January the indicator increased by 504 thousand, and not by 517 thousand, as previously reported. The indicator of December last year was marked at the level of 239 thousand new jobs. On average, in the previous six months, the American economy added 343 thousand jobs per month. The unemployment rate in the States rose from January 3.4% to 3.6% in February. Analysts had expected unemployment to remain unchanged. The average hourly wage in the private sector increased by 0.2% compared to the previous month – to $33.09. The rate of its increase was the lowest for the year, in January it amounted to 0.3%. In annual terms, the indicator increased by 4.6% (4.4% in January).
