Jobs report shows 236000 more jobs, decrease in unemployment
Business
Jobs report shows 236,000 more jobs, decrease in unemployment
March 8
By MARK DAVIS
The Kansas City Star
A surprisingly strong jobs report for February sparked renewed
faith in the economic recovery despite looming federal spending cuts and
the recent increase in payroll taxes and gasoline prices.
Unemployment fell to 7.7 percent last month, from 7.9 percent in January.
It was the lowest rate of joblessness since December 2008, when the financial crisis and recession first pushed unemployment above 7 percent.
February produced 236,000 more jobs than were lost, the report said, higher than many optimistic forecasts had expected.
Much of the increase came in key areas such as construction work, which posted its best hiring in six years in part thanks to a recovery in housing activity.
Employers also added to payrolls in health care, retail, and professional and business fields. The average reported work week grew longer in February and average wages rose.
Stock prices climbed higher on the news with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 48.66 points to 14,378.15. The Dow already had reach record highs this week.
Economist Scott Anderson at Bank of the West said the February jobs report showed the recovery accelerated despite the 2 percentage point increase in payroll taxes that took effect in January and the handwringing over federal spending cuts that began March 1 and are known as sequestration.
“Any way you slice it, it was a solid report on the improving health of the labor market at a time when concerns have increased regarding sequestration’s impact on jobs,” Anderson wrote in a in a first-look analysis of the U.S. Labor Department data.
The report was the government’s first estimate of jobs growth in February. It revised downward its original report on job growth in January but raised is jobs count from earlier reports on December.
If the last three years offer any guide, revisions to the February report are likely to find more jobs than today’s report showed.
For example, the Labor Department’s revisions pushed November’s job gains to 247,000 jobs, or 101,000 more than first reported.
Despite the upbeat report, some economists caution that the job market still has a long way to go.
Official unemployment totals fell partly because 130,000 more American’s dropped out of the labor pool in February. And the long term unemployed did not gain ground in February.
The Federal Reserve likely will see no reason to let up on its efforts to boost the job market with its purchases of bonds and policy of holding key interest rates near zero.
“This is about half the rate (of jobs growth) we would require to absorb those unemployed in the Great Recession by the of the decade,” said economist Michael Hicks of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
It was the lowest rate of joblessness since December 2008, when the financial crisis and recession first pushed unemployment above 7 percent.
February produced 236,000 more jobs than were lost, the report said, higher than many optimistic forecasts had expected.
Much of the increase came in key areas such as construction work, which posted its best hiring in six years in part thanks to a recovery in housing activity.
Employers also added to payrolls in health care, retail, and professional and business fields. The average reported work week grew longer in February and average wages rose.
Stock prices climbed higher on the news with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 48.66 points to 14,378.15. The Dow already had reach record highs this week.
Economist Scott Anderson at Bank of the West said the February jobs report showed the recovery accelerated despite the 2 percentage point increase in payroll taxes that took effect in January and the handwringing over federal spending cuts that began March 1 and are known as sequestration.
“Any way you slice it, it was a solid report on the improving health of the labor market at a time when concerns have increased regarding sequestration’s impact on jobs,” Anderson wrote in a in a first-look analysis of the U.S. Labor Department data.
The report was the government’s first estimate of jobs growth in February. It revised downward its original report on job growth in January but raised is jobs count from earlier reports on December.
If the last three years offer any guide, revisions to the February report are likely to find more jobs than today’s report showed.
For example, the Labor Department’s revisions pushed November’s job gains to 247,000 jobs, or 101,000 more than first reported.
Despite the upbeat report, some economists caution that the job market still has a long way to go.
Official unemployment totals fell partly because 130,000 more American’s dropped out of the labor pool in February. And the long term unemployed did not gain ground in February.
The Federal Reserve likely will see no reason to let up on its efforts to boost the job market with its purchases of bonds and policy of holding key interest rates near zero.
“This is about half the rate (of jobs growth) we would require to absorb those unemployed in the Great Recession by the of the decade,” said economist Michael Hicks of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
To reach Mark Davis, call 816-234-4372 or send email to mdavis@kcstar.com
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