US Loses 92,000 Jobs in February, Unemployment Hits 4.4%

The U.S. labor market shed 92,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February, smashing economists' rosy expectations of 50,000-55,000 gains and pushing unemployment up to 4.4%. Healthcare, usually a growth engine, lost 28,000 jobs due to a Kaiser Permanente strike, while leisure and hospitality dropped 27,000; even adjusted for strikes, payrolls stayed deeply negative. Read more about this...