As we showed moments ago, the scariest chart of today's nonfarm payroll report was the plunge in average weekly earnings. For those curious why US workers are unable to make any headway in obtaining higher wages, the following breakdown of just where the 175,000 (seasonally adjusted, because apparently now seasonal adjustments work again) February job gains were should provide some color.
Unfortunately, as has been the case for the past several months, well over half the total job gains in February were in industries that pay the least.
To wit:
- Education and Health: +33K
- Leisure and Hospitality: +25K
- Temp Help Services: +24K
- Government: +13K
Taken together, these 95K jobs amount to well over half of all job gains in the past month. It goes without saying that there is little wage growth of note one can hope for in these sectors.
Also of note: the high-paying information sector lost a whopping 16K jobs in February, following 8K losses the month before, while only 9K financial jobs were added this month (offsetting the 2K drop last month).
Finally, that US manufacturing renaissance? Stick a fork in it, with just 6K jobs added in February, the exact same amount as the month prior.
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