AFP, Washington :
The US economy had another strong month of job creation in February, the Labor Department reported Friday-a result sure to boost already high expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates next week.
President Donald Trump’s White House also seized on the news as a validation of its economic agenda, though much of this has yet to take shape.
Employers added a net 235,000 new positions last month, with the manufacturing, health care, mining and construction sectors all adding positions.
That was well above analyst forecasts and just shy of the 238,000 new positions added in January.
And in another sign that jobs markets are tightening, the already low unemployment rate fell a tenth of a point to 4.7 percent, leaving the unemployed population at 7.5 million.
That decline came even as the labor force participation rate rose to 63 percent, a level not surpassed in almost three years, meaning people who had been on the sidelines, perhaps discouraged from looking for a job, are rejoining the labor market.
The US economy had another strong month of job creation in February, the Labor Department reported Friday-a result sure to boost already high expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates next week.
President Donald Trump’s White House also seized on the news as a validation of its economic agenda, though much of this has yet to take shape.
Employers added a net 235,000 new positions last month, with the manufacturing, health care, mining and construction sectors all adding positions.
That was well above analyst forecasts and just shy of the 238,000 new positions added in January.
And in another sign that jobs markets are tightening, the already low unemployment rate fell a tenth of a point to 4.7 percent, leaving the unemployed population at 7.5 million.
That decline came even as the labor force participation rate rose to 63 percent, a level not surpassed in almost three years, meaning people who had been on the sidelines, perhaps discouraged from looking for a job, are rejoining the labor market.
