US job growth surges in February

Washington

US job growth surged in February, recording its biggest increase in more than 1½ years, but a slowdown in wage gains pointed to a gradual increase in inflation this year.

Non-farm payrolls jumped by 313,000 jobs last month, boosted by the largest gain in construction jobs since 2007, the Labor Department said on Friday. The increase in payrolls last month was the biggest since July 2016 and was well above the roughly 100,000 jobs per month the economy needs to create to keep up with growth in the working-age population.