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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Paul Wiseman

US employers likely added 60,000 jobs last month, subdued but a marked improvement over 2025 hiring

Hiring, Employment, Job Opportunity - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The American job market is looking brighter this year than it did in a gloomy 2025.

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that U.S. companies, nonprofits and government agencies added 60,000 jobs last month. That would be down from an unexpectedly strong 130,000 in January. But it would mark considerable improvement over the monthly average of just 15,000 new jobs in 2025, weakest hiring since the COVID-19 recession year 2020.

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