The Economist:
Payroll employment rose by 227,000 jobs in February. That marked a third consecutive month with job growth over 200,000, and it capped a 12-month period in which employment jumped by just over 2m—the best performance since January of 2007. Private-sector employment did even better. Private businesses have added over 750,000 jobs in just the last three months and 2.2m in the past year. February's report may actually be better than it looks. The latest release revised up job gains over the previous two months by 61,000, a common occurrence of late.
Private employment is 2.8m jobs above the level at the end of the recession while government employment is nearly 600,000 jobs less than the level in June of 2009. The drag from government job losses continues, but at a much slower pace than was the case in 2009 through 2011. Through February, just 7,000 public-sector jobs have been cut in 2012. Local governments actually added 2,000 workers in February.
The survey of household employment was similarly positive. The unemployment rate held fast at 8.3%. That, however, was due to a surge in workers into the labour force, of nearly 500,000, which offset the rise in employment entirely. Over the past few months, however, the household employment numbers have been, if anything, more bullish than the payroll figures, suggesting that the underlying trend toward improvement is very much the real thing. The employment-population ratio rose a tenth of a point to 58.6%, up from a low of 58.2% last summer. And alternative measures of unemployment are also getting better in a hurry.
The White House:
Payroll employment rose by 227,000 jobs in February. That marked a third consecutive month with job growth over 200,000, and it capped a 12-month period in which employment jumped by just over 2m—the best performance since January of 2007. Private-sector employment did even better. Private businesses have added over 750,000 jobs in just the last three months and 2.2m in the past year. February's report may actually be better than it looks. The latest release revised up job gains over the previous two months by 61,000, a common occurrence of late.
Private employment is 2.8m jobs above the level at the end of the recession while government employment is nearly 600,000 jobs less than the level in June of 2009. The drag from government job losses continues, but at a much slower pace than was the case in 2009 through 2011. Through February, just 7,000 public-sector jobs have been cut in 2012. Local governments actually added 2,000 workers in February.
The survey of household employment was similarly positive. The unemployment rate held fast at 8.3%. That, however, was due to a surge in workers into the labour force, of nearly 500,000, which offset the rise in employment entirely. Over the past few months, however, the household employment numbers have been, if anything, more bullish than the payroll figures, suggesting that the underlying trend toward improvement is very much the real thing. The employment-population ratio rose a tenth of a point to 58.6%, up from a low of 58.2% last summer. And alternative measures of unemployment are also getting better in a hurry.
The White House:
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