The jobs outlook brightened in February, as strong business hiring helped trim unemployment to its lowest level in nearly two years.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.9% last month, from 9.0% in January, the best reading since April of 2009. The unemployment rate has now fallen nearly a full percentage point in the last three months, the most rapid improvement in nearly 28 years.
The economy gained 192,000 jobs in the month, roughly in line with economists’ forecast of 190,000 jobs. Businesses added 222,000 — their best hiring month since last April — while state and local governments cut 30,000 jobs.
Another good sign: More jobs were added in the previous two months than originally thought. Readings for December and January were revised upward by a combined 58,000 jobs.
(Source: CNN)
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2 Responses
Not a valid statistic any longer. There are those who have completed their unemployment who have 1. not found a job, and 2. accepted work considered underemployment.
The economy needs to be creating at least 250k jobs a month just to satisfy demand for new workers (this does not account for the millions of workers already out of a job). The only reason the only unemployment rate went down was because more people dropped out of the labor force. Unless we get job growth of something like 500k jobs a month, unemployment will be high for years to come.