March 10, 2012

February Jobs Report

The United States added 227,000 jobs in February. This marks the third month in a row that job growth has topped 200,000. Additionally, figures for the previous two months were revised up. December job growth rose from 203,000 to 223,000, January rose from 243,000 to 284,000. The trend lately has been that revisions are positive.


The unemployment rate remained the same at 8.3% due to an increase in the number of people looking for work, a good sign. But to put the recovery in perspective, here is a graph of what job creation numbers are required to get back to the "natural rate" of unemployment. 


It was made in 2011 so it's a bit behind. Between the disappointing numbers of last summer and the numbers of the past three months that puts us heading for a return to "normal" in 2016.

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