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Washington: US job growth surged in February, recording its biggest increase in more than 1-1/2 years, but a slowdown in wage gains pointed to only a gradual increase in inflation this year.
Nonfarm payrolls jumped by 313,000 jobs last month, boosted by the largest gain in construction jobs since 2007, the Labor Department said on Friday. The increase in payrolls last month was the biggest since July 2016 and was triple the roughly 100,000 jobs per month the economy needs to create to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
Average hourly earnings edged up four cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $26.75 (Dh98.17) in February, a slowdown from the 0.3 per cent rise in January. That lowered the year-on-year increase in average hourly earnings to 2.6 per cent from 2.8 per cent in January.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1 per cent in February for a fifth straight month as 806,000 people entered the labour force in a sign of confidence in the job market. The average workweek rebounded to 34.5 hours after falling to 34.4 hours in January.