US adds 236,000 jobs, unemployment falls to 7.7 percent
The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in four years
Topics: From the Wires, Unemployment, unemployment rate, U.S. Economy, Business, Politics News
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers ramped up hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. Stronger hiring shows businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.
The government’s February employment report was filled with mostly encouraging details. The unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in four years. Hiring has averaged more than 200,000 per month since November. Wages increased. And the job gains were broad-based, led by the best construction hiring in six years.
One negative detail: employers added fewer jobs in January than first estimated. Job gains were lowered to 119,000 from an initially reported 157,000. Still, December hiring was a little better than first thought, with 219,000 jobs added instead of 196,000.
More Related Stories
-
Would we give up burgers to stop climate change?
-
Meet the pro-austerity hypocrites
-
NRA is getting a new president
-
House GOPer: Romney was the kid who couldn't explain his science project
-
Predictions for tomorrow's jobs report
-
Hacker steals sensitive infrastructure data from U.S. military
-
"This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann"
-
Drone victim: U.S. strikes boost al-Qaida recruitment
-
California's disappearing health care reform
-
Poll: Background checks vote could improve Dems' 2014 chances
-
Maryland bans the death penalty
-
Why conservatives should support immigration equality
-
Americans to government: Hands off our civil liberties
-
Hillary Clinton is still the clear favorite in a potential Dem primary
-
U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea
-
Audit finds Scott Walker's job creation agency repeatedly broke law
-
Peace Corps volunteer's hellish abortion story
-
U.S. reportedly moving toward arming Syrian rebels
-
Turns out much-hyped settlement still allows banks to steal homes
-
Howard Kurtz comes out as illiterate
-
Peter King: "I wouldn't want to be involving New York with Ted Cruz"
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
Reuters/Jason Reed -
Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
AP/A.M. Ahad -
Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
AP/Elise Amendola -
Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani -
Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
AP/Manish Swarup -
Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
AP/Jeff Roberson -
Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel -
Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
AP/Liu Yinghua -
On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
AP/Rogelio V. Solis -
The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
AP/David J. Phillip -
Recent Slide Shows
-
The week in 10 pics
-
"Arrested Development" character posters
-
Photos of the Boston manhunt
-
Newspaper headlines covering the Boston explosion
-
Most Read
-
71 names so awful New Zealand had to ban them
-
"This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann"
-
He made me his drug mule
-
Ted Cruz will never be president
-
Claire Messud to Publishers Weekly: "What kind of question is that?"
-
Pictures of people who mock me
-
Is Michael Pollan a sexist pig?
-
How conspiracists think
-
Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest
-
"Star Trek's" Wil Wheaton tells newborn girl why being a nerd "is awesome"
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
-
Rita F. Pierson: WATCH: The Reason Your Elementary School Teacher Matters -
GOP Rep Uses Embarrassing Analogy On Mitt Romney -
John McCain Gets Unexpected Surprise -
Report: North Korea Working Toward Striking U.S. With Nukes - AlaskaDispatch.com: Disgraced Senate Aide Moves from Federal Prison to Federal Fisheries Lobbyist
-
Ken Cuccinelli Once Filed An Amendment To Change Virginia's State Song To The Beatles' "Taxman" -
Masters Of The Universe: Lawmakers Obsess Over Threats From Space -
Commerce Appointment Opens A New White House Rift - Who Said It: Terry McAuliffe Or A Character From "House Of Cards"?
- State Department Unsure Of Status Of Saudi Diplomat In Alleged Trafficking Investigation
Comments
4 Comments