U.S. Employment Report | February 2016

This is a new monthly feature on SmallBusiness.com. To help you quickly see where U.S. jobs are growing or contracting, we are providing monthly jobs numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor. To keep it easy and quick to review, we are standardizing the way in which we display this data into a smart-phone friendly format. Each month, we will be focusing on the segments of the economy that have high concentrations of small businesses and are growing or contracting. Note: These are civilian, non-farm jobs and are subject to revision as more data is collected by the Labor Department. 

Overview: Payroll employment increased by 242,000, Unemployment rate unchanged at 4.9 percent

+242,000 | Jobs gained in February
4.9% | Unemployment rate (unchanged from January)
7.8 million | Number of unemployed people (unchanged from January)
-.6% | Unemployment rate compared to previous year
-831,000 | Unemployed persons compared to previous year
+228,000 | Average monthly gain in jobs over past three months

Unemployment rate, segmented by worker groups

Trend to note: Little or no change from previous month

4.5% | Adult men
4.5% | Adult women
15.6% | Teenagers
4.3% | Whites
8.8% | Blacks
3.8% | Asians
5.4% | Hispanics

What segments of the economy added significant numbers of jobs during February?

+19,000 | Construction: All categories
+40,000 | Food services and drinking places
+24,000 | Healthcare: Ambulatory services
+11,000 | Hospitals: Hospitals
+28,000 | Private educational services
+15,000 | Retail: Food and beverage stores
+13,000 | Retail: General merchandise stores
+19,000 | Social services

What segments of the economy lost significant numbers of jobs during February?

Trend to note: In the past 12 month, 171,000 mining jobs have been lost, mainly in support activities.

 -16,000 | Mining support activities
-2,000 | Coal mining

Average work week

34.4 Hours | Average work week: All industries (-.2 hour)
40.8 Hours | Average work week : Manufacturing (no change)

Average hourly earnings

$25.35 | Average hourly earning for all employees (down 3¢ from January)

Want more Department of Labor jobs data?

Deep dive into these reports. Included are monthly numbers by industry and comparisons of average hourly wages by industry.

• Employment Situation Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted
• Employment Situation Summary Table B. Establishment data, seasonally adjusted
• Employment Situation Frequently Asked Questions
• Employment Situation Technical Note
• Table A-1. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age
• Table A-2. Employment status of the civilian population by race, sex, and age
• Table A-3. Employment status of the Hispanic or Latino population by sex and age
• Table A-4. Employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment
• Table A-5. Employment status of the civilian population 18 years and over by veteran status, period of service, and sex, not seasonally adjusted
• Table A-6. Employment status of the civilian population by sex, age, and disability status, not seasonally adjusted
• Table A-7. Employment status of the civilian population by nativity and sex, not seasonally adjusted
• Table A-8. Employed persons by class of worker and part-time status
• Table A-9. Selected employment indicators
• Table A-10. Selected unemployment indicators, seasonally adjusted
• Table A-11. Unemployed persons by reason for unemployment
• Table A-12. Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment
• Table A-13. Employed and unemployed persons by occupation, not seasonally adjusted
• Table A-14. Unemployed persons by industry and class of worker, not seasonally adjusted
• Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
• Table A-16. Persons not in the labor force and multiple jobholders by sex, not seasonally adjusted
• Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail
• Table B-2. Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted
• Table B-3. Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted
• Table B-4. Indexes of aggregate weekly hours and payrolls for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted
• Table B-5. Employment of women on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted
• Table B-6. Employment of production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)
• Table B-7. Average weekly hours and overtime of production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)
• Table B-8. Average hourly and weekly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)
• Table B-9. Indexes of aggregate weekly hours and payrolls for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted(1)

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