The headline jobs number at 273 thousand for February was well above consensus expectations of 175 thousand, and the previous two months were revised up 85 thousand, combined. The unemployment rate decreased to 3.5%. Note: It appears weather boosted employment in February - I'll have more on this later.



Earlier: February Employment Report: 273,000 Jobs Added (266,000 ex-Census), 3.5% Unemployment Rate



In February, the year-over-year employment change was 2.409 million jobs including Census hires.



Average Hourly Earnings



Wage growth was at expectations. From the BLS:



"In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 9 cents to $28.52. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.0 percent."

"The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.3 million, changed little in February. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs."