March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures turned positive on Friday as the unemployment rate edged higher in February, while monthly wage growth slowed, easing fears of an aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve at its next meeting.
The Labor Department's closely watched employment report showed non-farm payrolls increased by 311,000 jobs last month. Economists were expecting an increase of 205,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% in February on a monthly basis, compared with an estimated 0.3% gain.
The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, against expectations that it would remain unchanged at 3.4%.
Traders are now pricing in a less than 40% chance of a 50 basis point hike from the Fed this month, compared with a 50% chance before the numbers were released. .
At 8:34 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 44 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 75.25 points, or 0.63%.
Moments before the data, dow e-minis were down 70 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7.25 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 2.5 points, or 0.02%.