Other administration policies could make February’s report particularly significant, however. With Mr. Trump’s move to put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and growing talk of a trade war, last month’s numbers could establish a baseline to measure the impact of trade restrictions and retaliation over the coming months. Manufacturing job gains, for example, totaled 31,000, more than twice the January figure.

“We need to hire 300 people in the next 90 days,” said Brian Krenke, president of KI, an employee-owned furniture maker based in Green Bay, Wis. “It’s different from years ago, when people were lining up for jobs.”

The company employs roughly 2,800 workers in its six factories. Mr. Krenke said he was looking for both entry-level and skilled workers, aggressively recruiting people graduating from high school and technical colleges. “It’s stressful,” he said, because “other companies are all doing the same things.”

Just as businesses focus on the customer experience, Mr. Krenke said employers must pay more attention to the worker experience. “We want them to walk away from the interview saying this is really an organization we want to work for,” he said. “You really need to be much more flexible and accommodating these days.”

In some sectors, the competition for workers has become fierce.

Diane Swonk, chief economist for the accounting firm Grant Thornton, said she had heard reports of trucking companies paying drivers six-figure salaries, plus $20,000 signing bonuses to lure them from competitors. Companies are also offering to train new drivers — even though many end up being poached by other companies.

“For years and years, the trucking companies said they couldn’t find drivers, but they wouldn’t raise wages,” Ms. Swonk said. “Well, now they are.”

The construction industry is also booming. Employers added 61,000 jobs last month — a hefty number for the off-season — bringing four-month total gains to 185,000.