Call me cynical. But given the revisionary past of the last 4 years, I’m waiting until next month’s revisions before I believe we added 236k jobs in Feb. and dropped unemployment to 7.7%.
Here’s the current report:
CBS NEWS – U.S. employers ramped up hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. Stronger hiring shows businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.
The government’s February employment report released Friday was filled with mostly encouraging details. The unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in four years. Hiring has averaged more than 200,000 per month since November. Wages increased. And the job gains were broad-based, led by the best construction hiring in six years.
One negative detail: Employers added fewer jobs in January than first estimated. Job gains were lowered to 119,000 from an initially reported 157,000. Still, December hiring was a little better than first thought, with 219,000 jobs added instead of 196,000.
The unemployment rate had been stuck at 7.8 percent or above since September. About half the decline in February occurred because more of the unemployed found jobs. A decline in the number of people looking for work accounted for the other half. People who aren’t looking for jobs aren’t counted as unemployed.
And if labor force participation was the same as January 2009, unemployment rate would be 10.8%
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) March 8, 2013