The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate ticked up as President Donald Trump was hit with a fresh round of abysmal economic numbers.
The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.4 percent in February from 4.3 percent the month before.
It comes as the number of jobs added at the end of last year was revised down by 65,000 in December, meaning the U.S. actually lost 17,000 jobs that month.
The stock market immediately took a plunge on Friday morning as investors reacted to the surprisingly bad jobs report and oil prices spiking as Trump wages war with Iran.
The Dow plunged roughly 900 points as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 1.6 percent each.
The president also faced growing fears of record oil prices, with one leading analyst saying the alarming data was giving him “chills.”
Trump has been facing fierce headwinds as Americans remain increasingly frustrated by the persistent high cost of living, with no signs that the administration is providing relief.
Friday’s report was worse than economists anticipated. They were expecting the U.S. to have added 50,000 jobs last month.
Instead, it showed the number of jobs in January was also revised down by 4,000, indicating an even weaker jobs market than previously understood.
The U.S. economy has actually lost jobs in three of the last five months, including in October, December, and February.
In total, the U.S. economy has lost more jobs than it has gained since April 2025. Economists were quick to question whether the U.S. was actually headed toward a recession.
Labor force participation rate ticked down to 62 percent, its lowest level since November 2021.
The president has repeatedly argued that the U.S. was simply cutting government jobs, but nearly every major industry shed jobs last month, including hospitality, health care, manufacturing, transportation, construction, business, information, and mining, as well as the federal government.
Despite the push for the U.S. to bring back manufacturing, the economy lost 12,000 manufacturing jobs in February. Manufacturing has been cutting jobs nearly every month since Trump was reelected.
The U.S. is also facing skyrocketing gas prices after the U.S. attacked Iran over the weekend.
The national average price of gas hit its highest level since August 2024 on Friday at more than $3.30 a gallon. The national average for diesel hit $4.26, its highest level since November 2023, according to GasBuddy.com.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gas Buddy, wrote in a post on X on Friday: “Waking up and looking at oil markets gave me the chills—that’s definitely rare—not great news incoming."
In just the past week, the national average price for gas has skyrocketed by 32 cents a gallon. Diesel has shot up even faster, surging 51 cents in seven days.
The price of oil continues to surge as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut down, even as Trump has vowed this week that the U.S. will escort shipping through the crucial waterway as the strikes on Iran continue.
The narrow waterway is responsible for shipping 20 million barrels of oil per day, or about one-fifth of total global oil supply.
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday that the country expects all Gulf energy producers to shut down exports within weeks and drive up oil to $150 a barrel. Oil is currently trading at $86 a barrel.
