The numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemploymentrate was little changed at 8.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and business services, health care, and transportation and warehousing.Some context from Reuters:
Employers hired more workers in February than in any month since May last year and the unemployment rate fell to a near two-year low, raising hopes the economic recovery has gathered critical momentum.Heading in the right direction. Let's hope those GOPers in the House don't screw it up. It was, after all, the GOP president, George W. Bush, and his policies that destroyed the economy at the end of 2008.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 192,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, above market expectations for 185,000 jobs. Data for December and January was revised to show 58,000 more jobs created than previously estimated.
The peak of monthly employment last May was when payrolls were being boosted by government hiring for a census. The unemployment rate dipped to 8.9 percent, the lowest since April 2009, from 9.0 percent in January as more people reported finding work.
"We have moved into the expansion phase of the economic cycle and the economy is self-sustaining," said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.
