Private sector employment numbers fell 4.1pc in January-February from a year earlier. The number of public sector employees fell less, by 0.8pc, to 709,000 in February from the same month a year earlier. The drop in January-February was 0.6pc. The number of full-time employees in both the private and public sectors dropped 3.0pc in January-February. January-February employment numbers dropped a sharp 7.5pc yr/yr in the manufacturing sector and fell 8.6pc in the construction sector. Exceptions from the trend included the information and communication services sector, where the number of employees rose 11.4pc, the financial and insurance activities segment, where numbers climbed 2.2pc, the public administration sector, where employment numbers increased 2.6pc, and the healthcare sector, where numbers were up 2.9pc.