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Payroll employment up by 242,000 in February 2016

March 07, 2016

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 242,000 in February and by nearly 2.7 million over the year. Job growth occurred in health care and social assistance, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and private educational services. Mining employment continued to decline.
Change in nonfarm employment for selected industries, February 2015–February 2016
Industry 1-month net change(p) 3-month net change(p) 12-month net change(p)

Total nonfarm

 242,000 685,000 2,672,000

Total private

 230,000 671,000 2,597,000

Mining and logging

 -18,000 -37,000 -141,000

Construction

 19,000 82,000 253,000

Construction of buildings

 6,400 29,600 46,300

Heavy and civil engineering construction

 700 -1,300 7,900

Specialty trade contractors

 12,300 54,000 199,200

Manufacturing

 -16,000 13,000 12,000

Durable goods

 -12,000 2,000 -34,000

Nondurable goods

 -4,000 11,000 46,000

Trade, transportation, and utilities

 53,000 133,000 470,000

Wholesale trade

 700 14,400 51,700

Retail trade

 54,900 123,600 338,600

Transportation and warehousing

 -5,300 -8,300 68,000

Utilities

 2,000 3,200 11,200

Information

 12,000 26,000 41,000

Financial activities

 6,000 30,000 142,000

Finance and insurance

 8,300 24,100 107,300

Real estate and rental and leasing

 -2,500 5,500 34,200

Professional and business services

 23,000 98,000 610,000

Professional and technical services

 17,600 63,400 297,700

Management of companies and enterprises

 6,800 13,300 65,900

Administrative and waste services

 -700 21,800 246,600

Education and health services

 86,000 173,000 698,000

Educational services

 28,200 24,900 62,800

Health care and social assistance

 57,400 147,900 634,500

Health care

 38,100 111,300 480,900

Ambulatory health care services

 23,600 63,300 260,500

Hospitals

 10,600 40,400 181,200

Nursing and residential care facilities

 3,900 7,600 39,200

Social assistance

 19,300 36,600 153,600

Leisure and hospitality

 48,000 128,000 446,000

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

 5,600 6,200 73,900

Accommodation and food services

 42,400 121,900 372,600

Other services

 17,000 25,000 66,000

Government

 12,000 14,000 75,000

Federal

 5,000 11,000 22,000

State

 -5,000 -28,000 -14,000

Local

 12,000 31,000 67,000
Footnotes:

(p) = preliminary.

Health care and social assistance added 57,000 jobs in February and 635,000 jobs over the year. Health care employment increased by 38,000 over the month, with 24,000 jobs gained in ambulatory health care services and 11,000 jobs in hospitals. Over the past 12 months, ambulatory health care services added 261,000 jobs and hospitals added 181,000 jobs. 

Retail trade added another 55,000 jobs in February. Employment rose by 15,000 in food and beverage stores and 13,000 in other general merchandise stores. Retail trade added 339,000 jobs over the past 12 months. 

Accommodation and food services added 42,000 jobs in February and 373,000 over the year. Within this industry, food services and drinking places added 40,000 jobs. Over the year, employment in the industry grew by 359,000. 

Construction continued to trend up in February, adding 19,000 jobs. Specialty trade contractors added 12,000 jobs. Employment in construction was up by 253,000 over the past 12 months, with specialty trade contractors accounting for nearly four-fifths of the increase. 

Employment in mining and logging declined in February, with a loss of 18,000 jobs.  Over the year, within mining and logging, mining shed 171,000 jobs. More than three-fourths of that loss was in support activities for mining.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — February 2016" (HTML) (PDF). Charts and analysis of nonfarm employment data can be found in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: February 2016; for additional charts, see Graphics for Economic News Releases: The Employment Situation.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Payroll employment up by 242,000 in February 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/payroll-employment-up-by-242000-in-february-2016.htm (visited April 19, 2024).

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