Grigory Dukor/Reuters
The Bureau of Labor statistics will release the February jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists estimate the economy gained 205,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, according to Bloomberg. They forecast that the unemployment rate fell to 4%, the lowest since July 2000, although a broader measure that includes people who work part-time but want full-time jobs remains higher, near 8%.
The focus of this report is wage growth.
In January, average hourly earnings increased at a year-on-year pace that had not been seen since the Great Recession. The 2.9% pace of growth, and steady increases since late last year, showed that wages were picking up after being almost stagnant since the financial crisis. Additionally, dozens on companies have indicated on their earnings calls that they're under pressure to raise wages.
The recent pickup in wage growth also helped trigger the stock market's first 10%-plus drop in two years, as investors became concerned that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates faster than expected if the economy overheats.
For February, economists estimate that wage growth cooled slightly, to a 2.8% pace year-on-year, and 0.2% pace month-on-month.