The February employment report showed 227,000 new jobs for the month and strong upward revisions for January and December. The headline unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent in the face of labor force growth and broad unemployment fell to its lowest level in three years

1. Data for the Classroom from
Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog
http://dolanecon.blogspot.com/
US Employment Data:
.
February Jobs Report
Brings Good News Across
the Board
Posted Jan. 9, 2012
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2. Payroll Job Growth Boosted by Upward Revisions
 Total payroll job growth for February
was a respectable 227,000, including
233,000 private sector jobs
 The previously reported January gain
was revised upward by 41,000 jobs
and December by 20,000 jobs
 Both goods producing and service
jobs gained, but government lost
6,000 jobs, mostly federal
 A separate household survey that
includes farm jobs and self-
employment reported 428,000 new
jobs
Posted Mar. 9, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

3. Unemployment Rate Steady as Workers Return to Labor Force
 The unemployment rate, which is the
ratio of unemployed persons to the
labor force, was unchanged at 8.3
percent, its lowest since February
2009
 Some 475,000 workers (net) entered
the labor force in the month, of whom
428,000 found employment and
47,000 began looking for work without
immediately finding it
Posted Mar. 9, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

4. Broad vs. Standard Unemployment Rate
 The BLS also provides a broader
measure of job-market stress, U-6
 The numerator of U-6 includes
 Unemployed persons
 Marginally attached persons who
would like to work but are not looking
because they think there are no jobs
 Part-time workers who would prefer
full-time work but can’t find it
 The denominator includes the labor
force plus the marginally attached
 U-6 fell to 14.9 percent, its lowest
since January 2009
Posted Mar. 9, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com

5. Employment-Population Ratio Continues Slow Rise
 The employment to population ratio
edged up to 58.6 percent, continuing
a steady rise from its all-time low of
July 2011
 Recent gains come against a longer-
term downward trend caused, in
part, by a steady increase in the
percentage of the population of
retirement age
 Also, older working-age people who had
had long spells of unemployment during
the recession are returning to the labor
force only slowly, if at all
Posted Mar. 9, 2012 on Ed Dolan’s Econ Blog http://dolanecon.blogspot.com