Computer and data processing services, which had added an average of 10,000 workers in the prior three months, added just 3,000 jobs in February. The transportation and public utilities industries lost 8,000 jobs in February after adding 20,000 per month since October. Retail trade added 33,000 jobs in February, down slightly from its 39,000 monthly rate over the last three months, but almost exactly in step with its average over the last year. Manufacturing added 5,000 jobs. This is the fourth consecutive month that manufacturing employment has risen or remained stable, which suggests that employment in this sector has at last stopped falling.
Coal mining continues to lose jobs.
Employment in the industry now stands at 79,000, more than 10 percent below its year-ago level. The average hourly wage increased by 4 cents in February, bringing its annual rate of growth for the last quarter to 3.9 percent. This is somewhat higher than the 3.0 percent growth rate for the second half of 1999, but is almost exactly the same as the rate of wage growth from 1997 through the first half of 1999. In the household survey, there were few notable changes in the unemployment rates of major demographic groups, as the most groups continue to experience unemployment rates that are at, or near, thirty-year lows. The employment to population ratio remained at a record 64.8 percent, suggesting that the January jump in this measure was not a statistical fluke.