Nursing and residential care facilities, collectively, generated 11,000 jobs in February, according to Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The healthcare sector overall added a total 67,000 jobs in February, which exceeds the average monthly gain of 58,000 over the previous 12 months. Nursing and residential care facilities had fewer job gains than those of other areas in healthcare. The greatest gains in healthcare were in ambulatory healthcare services and in hospitals, which added 28,000 jobs each in February.

Overall, the US economy added 285,000 jobs in February, above the average monthly gain of 230,000 over the previous 12 months, according to the BLS. Job gains occurred in healthcare, government, food services and drinking places, social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.

“Steady hiring and cooling wage growth last month offered the latest evidence that the US economy is making progress toward a so-called soft landing that brings inflation down without a recession,” the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 

Average hourly earnings increased by 0.1% in February. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.3%, the BLS noted. 

According to the data, unemployment rates for adult women (3.5%) and teenagers (12.5%) increased over the month of February. The jobless rates for adult men (3.5%), whites (3.4%), Blacks (5.6%), Asians (3.4%) and Hispanics (5.0%) “showed little or no change in February.” 

The number of American workers who have remained jobless for 27 weeks or more was 1.2 million last month. According to BLS, that number was little changed from the previous month. This group of individuals accounted for 18.7% of all unemployed people in February, the BLS said. Initial claims for unemployment stabilized week over week for the week ended March 2, according to data released Thursday by the BLS. 

“The unemployment rate is 3.7% and has been below 4% for 24 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s,” ABC News reported.

This low rate may be a sign that the job market is easing, according to experts. In a semi- annual money policy report to Congress on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told legislators that inflation “has eased substantially, and the slowing in inflation has occurred without a significant increase in unemployment.”