New York (CNN Business) It's looking like the US economy turned in another respectable month of job growth in February, even as a broader slowdown looms.

The Labor Department turns in numbers for last month on Friday, and economists polled by Refinitiv forecast on average that employers added another 185,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.9%.

That would be the lowest number since last September — and possibly the beginning of a long-expected moderation in the pace of growth.

Even as large segments of the economy have started to turn sour in recent months, the labor market doesn't seem to have gotten the message. Despite a drop-off in home sales, business investment, and consumer spending, employers have continued to add an average of 234,000 jobs every month over the past year. Higher wages have drawn people who may not have worked since losing a job in the Great Recession back into the workforce.

Refinitiv's economists think hourly earnings rose 3.3% in January. That's in line with wage growth over the last several months of 2018, which turned in the fastest pace of growth since the Great Recession.