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Welcome to the end of a tough week for the U.S. economy. We’re starting off with today’s jobs report, which was a lot worse than economists were expecting.

My colleague Caleigh Wells explains why job numbers went down. And before you go, check out why fast food companies are posting “taste tests” with their executives.

— Catie McCarthy, digital producer

People in scrubs stand and talk to each other.

SDI Productions/Getty Images

February jobs numbers worse than expected

The big shift this month? Health care jobs.

The first Friday of the month brought a fresh jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And this month, the numbers were worse than the industry experts were expecting.

The report showed a loss of 92,000 jobs. After months of easing, unemployment numbers crept up too, to 4.4%. The big shift was in health care jobs — usually one of the sectors that grows reliably. But in February, the country lost 28,000 health care jobs.

The biggest and most immediate factor was the strike for mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente. Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, said the estimates are that about 31,000 workers were involved with those strikes, which had an impact on the jobs report.

Zhao said that dip is temporary, so a lot of those jobs should bounce back in March when employees come back to work.

“But all of that being said, health care jobs growth was still slow, even if you do account for those striking workers,” Zhao said.

The U.S. went from adding 77,000 health care jobs in January to losing 28,000 in February. The 30,000 workers who went on strike is a blip, and doesn’t explain that entire gap.

Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said a medium-term trend for employment revolves around public funding, like Medicaid and Medicare. Government cuts mean less health care funding, even for the private sector jobs.

News you should know

Let’s do the numbers

Stocks fell again due to rising oil prices and the disappointing jobs report. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%, the Dow dropped 0.9%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.6%.
Employer-sponsored health premiums have risen, and one part of that is the higher cost and popularity of GLP-1s. To help companies provide them, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced they’d offer Zepbound to employers at a standardized price of $449/month.
The average gallon of gas today costs $3.32, up from $2.98 a week ago.

Oil prices

Brent crude oil prices rose 8.5% and U.S. crude oil prices rocketed up 12.2% today. The latter hit its highest price since 2023.
Here’s an interesting time-lapse video showing how quickly shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz decreased.
President Donald Trump said he’d have the U.S. Navy escort oil tankers in the area. Easier said than done.
Diesel fuel prices are spiking, and you’ll feel the costs even if you don’t drive a diesel truck.

Grocery shopping

Southern cities are seeing a flurry of supermarket construction as millions of people move to Sun Belt states. We went to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to see for ourselves.
In contrast, supermarket chain Grocery Outlet will close 36 stores, citing too much expansion.
We spend way less of our income on food than we used to. Why doesn’t it feel that way?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If every weather event to [an account] ends up being the biggest, the worst, the most extreme, all the writing is in all caps with lots of exclamation points, they're probably just trying to hook you.”

— Matt Lanza, a meteorologist who contributes to multiple weather social media accounts

A growing number of meteorologists are taking a non-traditional path by doing the weather online. We talked to a few of them about the benefits and risks of getting weather news on social media — and how to make sure you’re following legitimate accounts.

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LET'S GO

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Final note

Here’s the beef

Last month, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted this video trying out the company’s new “Big Arch” burger. The video went viral this week when online commenters pointed out some oddities: Kempczinski called the burger a “product” and showed off the “big bite” he took, which didn't seem all that big.

Now, companies like Burger King and Wendy’s have posted similar videos of their presidents chowing down on burgers to try to win some extra attention. One thing’s clear — people are talking about the “Big Arch” burger. Mission accomplished.

It’s not the first time customers have viewed CEO taste tests with suspicion. In 2024, former Chipotle CEO (and current Starbucks CEO) Brian Niccol shared his usual order in a video clip, and commenters were…not convinced of his enthusiasm. The McDonald's clip also wasn’t out of the blue: People found a similar “taste test” Kempczinski posted in 2024.

This newsletter was written by Catie McCarthy and edited by Joanne Griffith.

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