1122 ET - February payrolls could ease recession fears, but labor data will likely deteriorate in March, "when recent federal government layoffs will be a much larger drag on employment," Capital Economics' Thomas Ryan writes. Nonfarm payrolls were 151,000 last month, up from 125,000 in January but lower than consensus of 170,000. Unemployment increased to 4.1% from 4% and annual average hourly earnings growth slowed slightly to 4% from 4.1%. Ryan says that the U.S. labor market "remains in decent shape and should be able to weather the DOGE-related cull of federal government employees." He thinks Fed cuts this year remain off the table for now. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 07, 2025 11:22 ET (16:22 GMT)
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