The unemployment rate in the United States fell two tenths to 3.8% in February, a month in which 20,000 new jobs were created, the government reported Friday.
The US economy continues at a level close to full employment, although the creation of 20,000 new jobs was well below the expectations of analysts, who had anticipated some 175,000.
In fact, the 20,000 new jobs are the lowest in the last 17 months, while the average for the last year has been 200,000 jobs created.
The average wage, meanwhile, rose in February at 11 cents an hour, to 27.66 dollars.
In the last 12 months, salaries have increased by 3.4%, above the accumulated last month, which registered an increase of 3.2%.
On the other hand, the participation rate in the labor force, that is, the proportion of Americans who are employed or seeking employment, remained at 63.2% in January.
This was the 100th month in which employment grows consecutively in the US, the longest running bonanza in the labor market that has been recorded.
The fragile generation of jobs in January surprised because it occurred after a month in which 311,000 new jobs were created, according to the latest revision of the Department of Labor, despite the partial administrative closure of the US Administration.
This partial