U.S. Jobs Picture Robust

Just when investors whipsawed by plunging stock markets were growing worried about an economic slowdown and even a recession, along came a robust U.S. jobs report Friday.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation's employers added 242,000 jobs in February, with unemployment holding steady at 4.9 percent even as hundreds of thousands of people have resumed actively looking for work. The government also revised upward, by 30,000 jobs, its estimates for December and January, yielding a picture of a U.S. economy that – despite fears of a slowdown in China and a glut of oil some read as a sign of global economic weakness – is still doing pretty well.

"Bottom line, both the economy and the job market are on a very solid footing," IHS Global Insight chief economist Nariman Behravesh said in an interview for necn's "This Week In Business," airing Sunday at 5:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 8 p.m. "This very strong showing in February is consistent with the kind of numbers we've seen over the past two years, really."

The only somewhat discouraging or concerning numbers: The average workweek slipped slightly, and average wages for Americans grew just 0.1 percent in February after leaping 0.5 percent in January, as minimum-wage increases took effect in several jurisdictions.

That wage picture may be an argument for the Federal Reserve to wait on more interest rate hikes.

"I think there's one piece of data that came out today that may give them pause, which is there's no wage inflation. We had a little bit of wage inflation in January, but nothing, almost nothing, in February," said Behravesh.

President Obama said of the latest job numbers: "There's a huge gap in rhetoric going on out there and the reality of success we're seeing in the American economy, even as we acknowledge there's more work to be done to make sure everyone is successful."