Top technology companies including

Amazon.com Inc.

and

Microsoft Corp.

have announced layoffs in recent months. The information sector, which includes many tech workers, saw employment decline for the third straight month, by 25,000, to a seasonally-adjusted 3.08 million jobs. 

Transportation and warehousing saw employment decline by 21,500 jobs to 6.7 million. While employment remains above prepandemic levels, the monthly percent change has trended down since mid-2022. Supply-chain bottlenecks have eased over the past year and retailers and manufacturers are working to return inventories to normal levels. 

Finance and insurance, which are affected by rising interest rates, saw a decline of 10,000 jobs to 6.7 million. 

Still, many other parts of the economy continued to show growth. 

“Hiring continues to be robust, especially in industries that need people most: leisure and hospitality, retail, government, and healthcare,”

Robert Frick,

an economist with the Navy Federal Credit Union, said in a note. 

The number of jobs in leisure and hospitality increased by 105,000 as people continue to eat at restaurants and travel and companies recover the jobs lost in the early years of the pandemic.

Retailers hit their highest employment level in a year, adding 50,100 jobs and reaching 15.6 million in employment. U.S. retail sales increased 3% in January from December, in their largest gain in nearly two years. February sales data is set to come out next week. Employment by retailers surpassed the average 2019 levels in February. It exceeded prepandemic levels in February 2022 but had remained below since then. 

Payrolls by sector in February, change from a month earlier

Education and health services

Professional and business services

Trade, transportation and utilities

Education and health services

Professional and business services

Trade, transportation and utilities

Education and health services

Professional and business services

Trade, transportation and utilities

Education and

health services

Professional and

business services

Trade, transportation

and utilities

Education and

health services

Professional and

business services

Trade, transportation

and utilities

Employment in government has lagged behind the strong growth seen in the private sector. The government sector added 46,000 jobs last month but remains below prepandemic levels. 

Healthcare and social services added 62,800 jobs in the month. 

Wage growth also slowed across many sectors. The three-month annualized rate of average hourly earnings growth slowed to 3.6%, the lowest since March 2021, from January’s 4.4% reading, according to Omair Sharif of Inflation Insights. The rate slowed over the last three months compared with the three months before that for the private jobs as a whole as well as in construction, manufacturing, retail and leisure and hospitality.

“We’ve seen a broad-based deceleration in wage growth in recent months,” he said in a note. 

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com