US lost 92,000 jobs in February just before Trump joined Iran conflict

The US lost 92,000 jobs in February, a major slackening in the labor market that came just before Donald Trump threw the global economy into upheaval with his conflict in Iran.The unemployment rate edged up to 4.4% in February. In comparison, the US added a revised 126,000 jobs in January, far surpassing expectations of 70,000 jobs but still less than January 2025. Economists predicted an increase of 60,000 jobs added in February and a steady unemployment rate of 4.3%.Chart of monthly changes in US jobsThe report revised down job figures from December and January. Figures in December went down by 68,000, from 48,000 job gains to 17,000 losses. January saw a much smaller drop, revised down by 4,000 jobs, from 130,000 to 126,000.January’s job report also included revisions that brought down the total number of jobs added to the economy in 2025 to 181,000 jobs – the weakest year of job growth since Covid and a substantial decrease from the 2m jobs added to the US economy in 2024. And the job growth in 2025 was concentrated in the first half of the year: from July to December 2025, the US economy lost 45,000 jobs.The job losses were broadly based. Healthcare jobs saw a huge swing down in February, going from 77,000 new jobs in January to 28,000 losses in February. Physician offices lost 37,000 jobs primarily due to strike activity. The information sector, which includes media and telecommunications, and transportation and warehousing trended down 11,000 each.Federal government employment also continued to decline, dropping 10,000 last month. After reaching a peak in October 2024, federal government employment is down 11%, or 330,000 workers.And while the unemployment rate has remained stable, the Black unemployment rate has remained high. Last year, the rate jumped from 6.2 %in January 2025 to 8.2% in November, before decreasing to 7.7% in February. In comparison, the White unemployment rate has remained steady and below the national average at 3.7%.“The job market is struggling in the face of so many headwinds. Companies are cautious to hire and some industries are doing layoffs. The February jobs report was dismal with heavy job losses, even in healthcare, and a rise in the unemployment rate,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy federal credit union.Long noted that the US economy has essentially added no jobs since last April, when Trump announced his slate of tariffs. “Almost every major sector of the economy has been shedding jobs. Even healthcare, the one bright spot had a weak February, though that is attributed to strike activity,” she said.Because the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday is solely focused on jobs in February, it does not capture the global shock waves caused by the US-Israel conflict with Iran. But the new jobs data will be influential in shaping the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting over interest rates on 17 and 18 March.It’s unclear where Fed officials will land on interest rates, though some seem cautious about making any changes. Ahead of the meeting, Beth M Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, called for an extended pause of interest rates amid concerns about inflation, even though Trump has been pushing to lower them.