The U.S. Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 678,000 in February, while analysts had previously expected an increase of 440,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, below analysts’ forecast of 3.9%.
The U.S. Labor Department revised January’s nonfarm payrolls to 481,000 from 467,000 and December’s nonfarm payrolls to 588,000 from 510,000.
Average hourly earnings for workers rose 0.03%, with the Federal Reserve (Fed) viewing hourly earnings as a sign of inflation.
The U.S. labor force entry rate figure shows the ratio of the labor force to the total population was 62.3%.