The US economy lost 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% | CNN Business

Hiring at US businesses unexpectedly plunged last month as employers shed an estimated 92,000 jobs, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% from 4.3%. Economists were expecting job growth to slow somewhat after a surprisingly strong January – in part due a major labor strike by health care workers and a deep cold snap that hit many US states. The consensus estimates were for a net gain of 60,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to hold steady, FactSet estimates show. “We had a labor market that nearly froze last year, and it seemed to show some signs of thawing, which made it slushy at best,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG US, told CNN in an interview. February’s report, however, showed how precarious the US jobs market is when the supporting “one-legged stool” of health care is kicked out, she said. The health care industry, which has driven the vast majority of the job gains in the past year, posted a loss of 28,000 jobs (31,000 of which were likely attributed to the mid-month Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers strike). “It really illustrates how fragile the economy is on t