The US Labor Department announced that employment rose by 311,000 jobs in February 2019.
The unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.6%.
This is seen as a promising indicator for the economy, as employers continue to add workers despite rising interest rates.
American employers continued to add jobs to payrolls during February 2019, with 311,000 new positions created.
Unemployment rose slightly from 3.4% to 3.6%, marking a small increase in layoffs.
The success of the employment figures seemed to have caught financial markets off-guard.
While some had expected interest rates to increase by a half-point, others were less optimistic, with expectations dropping to a quarter-point hike.
The positive results, while successful in terms of increasing employment, may counterintuitively work to reduce the need for the exceptionally high rates which were implemented last year to curb financial risks.
Furthermore, some economists pointed at the somewhat uneven nature of hiring as a possible indicator that the labour market may begin to loosen up.