U.S. payrolls unexpectedly fell by 92,000 in February; unemployment rate rises to 4.4%
Source: CNBC
Published Fri, Mar 6 2026 8:31 AM EST Updated 3 Min Ago
The U.S. economy lost jobs in February, a month marred by severe winter weather and a strike at a major health care provider, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 for the month, compared to the estimate for 50,000 and below the downwardly revised January total of 126,000. February marked the third time in the past five months that payrolls declined, following a sharp revision showing a drop of 17,000 in December.
At the same time, the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% as jobs declined across key areas. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons moved lower, at 7.9% or 0.2 percentage point below the January level.
Health care, the primary growth driver in payrolls, saw a loss of 28,000 due largely to a strike at Kaiser Permanente that sidelined more than 30,000 workers in Hawaii and California. Though the strike has since been resolved, it occurred during the BLS survey week so it subtracted from the jobs total.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/february-2026-jobs-report.html
From the source -
Link to tweet
@BLS_gov
Payroll employment edges down 92,000 in February; unemployment rate changes little at 4.4% https://bls.gov/news.release/e
mpsit.nr0.htm
#JobsReport #BLSdata
8:31 AM � Mar 6, 2026
It's that Friday again. Stay tuned for the DU economy analysts for their deep dives.
Article updated.
Previous articles -
The U.S. economy lost jobs in February, a month marred by severe winter weather and a strike at a major health care provider, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 for the month, compared to the estimate for 50,000 and below the downwardly revised January total of 126,000. February marked the third time in the past five months that payrolls declined, following a sharp revision showing a drop of 17,000 in December.
At the same time, the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% as jobs declined across key areas. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons moved lower, at 7.9% or 0.2 percentage point below the January level.
Health care, the primary growth driver in payrolls, saw a loss of 28,000 due largely to a strike at Kaiser Permanente that sidelined more than 30,000 workers in Hawaii and California. Though the strike has since been resolved, it occurred during the BLS survey week so it subtracted from the jobs total.
The U.S. economy lost jobs in February, a month marred by severe winter weather and a strike at a major health care provider, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 for the month, compared to the estimate for 50,000 and below the downwardly revised January total of 126,000. February marked the third time in the past five months that payrolls declined, following a sharp revision showing a drop of 17,000 in December. At the same time, the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% as jobs declined across key areas.
Health care, the primary growth driver in payrolls, saw a loss of 28,000 due largely to a strike at Kaiser Permanente that sidelined more than 30,000 workers in Hawaii and California. Though the strike has since been resolved, it occurred during the BLS survey week so it subtracted from the jobs total.
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Original article -
Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase 50,000 in February while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, according to Dow Jones consensus estimates.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
"expected" an INCREASE of something along the line of the ADP numbers reported earlier this week, which were around the "60,000" range (although that only surveys "private sector" jobs). But... 
am thinking it was something used either during Fallon's show, Seth Meyer's show, or maybe SNL. 
The more the president insists the economy is amazing, the more we’re confronted with evidence to the contrary.
Job growth over 14 months of Trump’s second term: 150,000 jobs
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-06T14:04:46.620Z
The previous 14 months: 1.74 million jobs
Under Biden: 0 months of job losses
Trump’s second term: losses in two of the last three months, three of the last five months, and five of the last nine months.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/u-s-economy-lost-92000-jobs-in-february-as-trump-era-job-market-continues-to-suffer
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 for the month, compared to the estimate for 50,000 and below the downwardly revised January total of 126,000. February marked the third time in the past five months that payrolls declined, following a sharp revision showing a drop of 17,000 in December.
At the same time, the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% as jobs declined across key areas.
There is no good news here. In fact, during Joe Biden’s four years in the White House, there wasn’t a single month in which the U.S. economy actually lost jobs. It’s become far more common lately: The economy not only shed jobs in February, it also lost jobs in two of the last three months, three of the last five months and five of the last nine months.
All told, Donald Trump has been in the White House for 14 months, and during that time the cumulative total is 150,000 jobs. Over the 14 months preceding the Republican president’s return to power, the American economy added 1.74 million jobs.....
To contextualize the data, I put together this chart to show month-to-month totals since the 2020 election. The blue columns point to Biden’s presidency, while the red columns point to Trump’s.
It remains to be seen whether the president responds to the developments by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (again).
The question for the White House remains simple: If Trump has created the greatest economy in history, why has American job growth slowed to its lowest pace since the Great Recession?