Latest Jobless Figures Likely To Boost Trump

The US employment engine roared in February, adding more new jobs than any month in over a year as robust hiring picked up in construction, retail and manufacturing, the government reported on Friday.

The result shattered economists' expectations, giving President Donald Trump a shot in the arm just as support for his "America First" economic agenda appeared to be on shaky ground.

Trump broke with the leaders of his own Republican Party this week, announcing steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports in a move denounced by top congressional leaders and drawing rebukes from industry, who said it could undermine the benefits of December's sweeping tax cuts and spark a global trade war.

On Twitter, the president expressed elation. "JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!," he wrote, adding the hashtag "#MAGA" to invoke his campaign trail slogan: "Make America Great Again."

For Wall Street, the news appeared to hit a sweet spot, pointing to an economy in rude health but not to a pickup in inflation on faster gains in worker wages. Last month, a jump in hourly pay sparked a global stocks selloff.

Economists on Friday downplayed the inflation threat posed by the employment numbers and US stocks opened sharply higher.

Employers added 313,000 net new non-farm jobs last month, the biggest monthly increase since July 2016, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 percent for the fifth month in a row, according to the Labor Department's highly anticipated monthly report.

On top of the exceptionally strong February, the job gains in December and January were revised up by a combined 54,000, bringing average monthly job creation to a strong 242,000 a month for the latest three months.

The unemployment rate remained steady even though more workers joined the job hunt, lifting the labor force participation rate up to 63 percent. (AFP)