Job growth fizzled in the US in February, a sign of unexpected weakness in the labour market.

Employers cut 92,000 jobs in February, the Labour Department reported Friday, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4 per cent. The job losses cut across nearly all major sectors, including health care, which was weighed down by a nurses strike in California.

The report dimmed the picture of the labour market and all but shut down the prospect of a swift resurgence in growth after an anaemic year of hiring that was weighed down by economic uncertainty. Many economists had forecast that employers would shake off their reluctance to hire this year.

Revisions to previous months bolstered the case that the job losses in February were consistent with a broader trend rather than a blip. Employers shed 17,000 in December, and hiring figures for January were also revised downward slightly. Taken together, job growth for the last three months effectively slowed to zero.

“This is a rough report,” said Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab.

Health care employment fell by 19,000 jobs in February, dragged down by a nurses strike in California that kept 31,000 people out of work. The health care industry has powered job growth, driven by the country’s aging population. But that dominance has raised concerns that the job market is more vulnerable than top-line numbers suggest.

New York Times News Service