U.S. Economy Produces 243,000 New Jobs in February
Unemployment Rate Remains Low at 4.8%
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data on the February employment situation. The full BLS press release can be found at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm.
Highlights of today’s employment situation report:
• The U.S. economy produced 243,000 new payroll jobs in February, well above consensus expectations.
• In the past 12 months 2.1 million new jobs have been created; Since August 2003 nearly 5 million new jobs have been created. The U.S. economy has experienced 30 consecutive months of job growth.
• The unemployment rate edged up a hair from 4.7% to 4.8%.
• January payroll employment gains were revised downward however, from 193,000 to 170,000 new jobs.
• According to the BLS survey, about one half of Hurricane Katrina evacuees were again living in their August 2005 residences. Of all evacuees surveyed, 58.1 percent were participating in the labor force in February with an unemployment rate of 12.6 percent. For just those evacuees that had returned to their 2005 residences the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent. For evacuees who had not returned to their 2005 residences the unemployment rate was 22.6 percent.
Highlights of today’s employment situation report:
• The U.S. economy produced 243,000 new payroll jobs in February, well above consensus expectations.
• In the past 12 months 2.1 million new jobs have been created; Since August 2003 nearly 5 million new jobs have been created. The U.S. economy has experienced 30 consecutive months of job growth.
• The unemployment rate edged up a hair from 4.7% to 4.8%.
• January payroll employment gains were revised downward however, from 193,000 to 170,000 new jobs.
• According to the BLS survey, about one half of Hurricane Katrina evacuees were again living in their August 2005 residences. Of all evacuees surveyed, 58.1 percent were participating in the labor force in February with an unemployment rate of 12.6 percent. For just those evacuees that had returned to their 2005 residences the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent. For evacuees who had not returned to their 2005 residences the unemployment rate was 22.6 percent.
