February jobs report shows job growth momentum

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The February jobs report is out and it shows that job growth momentum is building in the economy. The stable unemployment rate is due to the fact that unemployed workers now feel encouraged to reenter the job market — and that's a good sign. Steve Benen reports The Maddow Blog – Jobs picture continues to improve, economy adds 227K:

The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs last month, while the overall unemployment rate remained steady at 8.3%. At first blush, that may sound discouraging, but the details matter — the jobless rate remained the same, despite the increase, because "more people entered the workforce in search of jobs."

And that's what we want — it's evidence of a healthier economy.

As is always the case, there was a gap between the private and public sectors. Businesses added 233,000 jobs last month, while budget cuts [by state and local governments] forced the public sector to shed another 6,000 jobs.

[I]t's hard not to feel encouraged about the recent data. Indeed, perhaps the most striking aspect to today's report were the revisions: job totals from December showed an additional 20,000 jobs (from 203,000 to 223,000), while January added an additional 41,000 (from 243,000 to 284,000).

[T]he last three months have been the best for American job creation since the start of the Great Recession.

The overall economy has now added over 1.2 million jobs in just the last six months, and nearly 3.4 million jobs over the last three years.

Here is the homemade chart Benen runs on the first Friday of every month, showing monthly job losses since the start of the Great Recession.

And another chart showing monthly job losses/gains in just the private sector since the start of the Great Recession. There has been 24 consecutive months of private sector job growth.