US jobs growth eased in February but remained elevated

US jobs growth slowed in February from the breakneck pace of the previous month, but remained elevated enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to consider switching back to bigger interest rate increases.

The world’s largest economy added 311,000 jobs last month, higher than the 225,000 jobs forecast by economists but less than January’s downwardly revised 504,000 positions. Despite those gains, the unemployment rate inched up to 3.6 per cent, still near a multi-decade low.