U.S. job growth jumps sharply

WASHINGTON • U.S. job growth accelerated sharply in February despite the icy weather that gripped much of the nation, easing fears of an abrupt economic slowdown and keeping the Federal Reserve on track to continue reducing its monetary stimulus.

Employers added 175,000 jobs to their payrolls last month after creating 129,000 new positions in January, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 6.7% from a five-year low of 6.6%, as Americans flooded into the labour market to search for work.

“This bodes well for the economy since there were massive headwinds,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at Sarhan Capital in New York. “This report plays perfectly into the Fed’s script of tapering.”

U.S. stocks opened higher on the data, while government bonds sold off, pushing yields higher. The dollar hit a six-week high against the yen.

Interest rate futures showed traders ramped up bets on the Federal Reserve hiking rates a bit sooner than had been previously thought. They now point to a 53% probability of a rate hike in June 2015.

Unusually cold and snowy winter weather has disrupted economic activity in much of the United States for months.

With snow and ice covering densely populated areas during the week employers were surveyed for February payrolls, Wall Street had braced for a much weaker report. Economists had forecast nonfarm payrolls rising by only 149,000 jobs.

In addition to the strongerthan-expected February reading, the figures for December and January were revised up to show 25,000 more jobs created during those months than previously reported.

The weather, however, did have an impact last month. It cut into the length of the average workweek, which hit its lowest level since January 2011. That led to a drop in a measure of total work effort, despite the rise in payrolls. Still, economists expect a reversal once the weather improves.

Fed officials, from chairman Janet Yellen on down, view the recent weakness in the economy as largely weather-related and temporary, and they have said the economic outlook would have to change significantly for the central bank to set aside plans to wind down its bond-buying stimulus.

But the weather is not the only factor behind the lull in activity. Businesses are working through a huge pile of unsold goods accumulated in the second half of 2013, which means they have no incentive to place new orders with manufacturers.

In addition, the expiration of long-term unemployment benefits for more than one million Americans in December as well as cuts to food stamps are also hurting spending.

These factors are, however, also temporary.