The exception to this weakening pattern is year -
over-year payroll job growth, which continued to improve through January, and was essentially flat in February.
The tipping point seems to have been the release of the January
jobs report, the highlight of which wasn't the change in nonfarm
payrolls and the unemployment rate, which they usually are, but the 0.3 % (2.9 % annualized) growth in wages, which was the strongest year -
over-year gain since June 2009.