U.S. employers announced 172,017 layoffs in February, up 245 percent from January and the highest monthly count since July 2020. More than one-third — 62,242 across 17 government agencies — can be filed under Elon Musk’s quest to reduce the federal workforce.  

Payroll processing giant ADP reported that private sector hiring grew by just 77,000 in February, with the most job cuts in retail (38,956) and technology (14,554) in reductions. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. rose by 151,000 on net in February, and the headline (U-3) unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.1 percent, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment trended up in:

• health care (52,000) 

• financial activities (21,000) 

• construction (19,000) 

• transportation and warehousing (18,000) 

• social assistance (11,000) 

Federal government employment declined by 10,000, the number of unemployed Americans was 7.1 million — including 1.5 million long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more). 

Economist and Fact Pack co-publisher John Restrepo on workforce trends: 

We can expect to see continued job growth in healthcare and social assistance as the population ages and the number of people with chronic health conditions increases. Technology and IT are also growth sectors, along with manufacturing, and financial and professional services. 

Retail trade is projected to decline as e-commerce continues to cut into in-person sales at brick-and-mortar retail outlets. Increasing online purchases will drive growth in transportation and warehousing as companies ship goods directly to consumers. 

Slower projected population growth among the school-age population over the coming decade is projected to create a drop in demand for private and public educational services. 

Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that labor force growth will at some point be constrained by a continued slowdown in population growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 years and older will increase by 16.4 million to 283.3 million in 2033, nearly 5 million less than the increase that occurred over the 2013-23 decade. 

Construction Jobs 

On a year-over-year basis, construction industry employment increased by 174,000 jobs in February, an increase of 2.1 percent, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis. 

Heavy and civil engineering added the most jobs (2,500), followed by nonresidential specialty trade (2,000). Nonresidential building added 1,700 jobs. 

As of February 2025 

As of February 2025

Pay Grades 

Voronoi put out a nice graph on U.S. labor compensation by sector in 2023, sorting wage types into services, goods, and government. 

As of 2023  

Ready, Set, Startup 

New companies account for most new hires: 

Based on 2023 data 

Property Taxes 

The Tax Foundation is out with its fiscal year 2022 report on property taxes, which comprised 27.4 percent of total state and local tax collections in the U.S. — more than any other source of non-federal tax revenue — and accounted for 70.2 percent of local tax collections. 

Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund schools, roads, police departments, fire and emergency medical services, and other services associated with residency and property ownership. Map: 

Based on 2023 data from the Census Bureau 

Data for Nevada’s two most populated counties: 

As of 2023 

As of 2023 

Click here for county-level data in the interactive version of the map. 

Southern Nevada Home Sales 

The latest data from the Las Vegas REALTORS® (LVR) shows that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during February was $485,000. That matched the all-time high set in January and is up 5.4 percent from $460,000 in February of 2024. 

The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in February increased to $303,000. That was up 7.1 percent from $283,000 in February 2024 – but short of the record high of $315,000 set in October. 

 LVR reported sales of 2,296 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in February, down 6.1 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. 

By the end of February, LVR reported 5,229 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer, up 50.6 percent from one year earlier. The 2,025 condos and townhomes listed without offers in February represented a 74.6 percent jump from the prior year. 

LVR reported that 31,305 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during 2024, up from 29,069 such sales in 2023 but down from 35,584 total sales in 2022.

Other highlights:  

• In February, 71.0 percent of all existing local homes and 71.9 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days, down from 73.2 percent and 76.9 percent the prior year. 

• The number distressed sales is near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 0.6 percent of all existing local property sales in February. That compares to 1.6 percent one year ago and 2.5 percent five years ago. 

Taking Stock 

As of last Wednesday, despite uncertainty over geopolitical tensions and the effect of tariffs, 52 percent (264) of the S&P 500’s constituents were still up for the year:  

As of 3/5/25 

Crypto Levies 

This visualization shows wide disparity in capital gains tax rates for individual crypto investors across the globe: 

As of 1/1/25 

Based on data from HelloSafe 

A Half Penny for Your Thoughts 

We noted last week that the U.S. soon may join the many countries that have done away with their 1-cent coins. Until then, the penny will remain America’s smallest unit of currency — a circumstance that became a fact when the half-cent coin was discontinued in 1857. 

Liberty Cap design 

Image source: greysheet.com 

The half-penny made sense when average wages were a fraction of today’s typical paycheck. The median annual wage was around $65 when the U.S. Mint was formed in 1792, and the coin made sense in light of the cost of many household items — including postage stamps.  

This Gray Sheet write-up reviews the history of the 35,334 half-cent coins that were struck. 

Spending Money 

The U.S. and Canada saw the highest increases in average household disposable incomes from 2007 to 2024 — rising by 29.5 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively—when compared to other G7 nations: 

 Image source: Visual Capitalist as of 2024

As you can see, disposable income dipped in recent years in Japan, but Italy is the only G7 country where household disposable income is less (-5.3 percent) than it was 2007, reflecting prolonged economic stagnation. 

On the Horizon

Mike PeQueen: Wednesday’s CPI and Thursday’s PPI will be the most important numbers of the week.

Data & Dialogue About the Economy



The Fact Pack is a monthly business e-report co-authored by Mike PeQueen of Hightower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, which combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on the current issues facing the economy.

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