Dados EUA: Jobs growth surges in February

[notiCIas]

Jobs growth surges in February

Gain in payroll tops forecasts even as unemployment rate rises to 4.8%.

March 10, 2006: 9:02 AM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Employers added more jobs to U.S. payrolls in February than economists expected, according to the closely watched government jobs report issued Friday.

The Labor Department report showed a net gain of 243,000 jobs to U.S. payrolls in the month, compared with a revised 170,000 gain reported in January. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a gain of 210,000 jobs.


The unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in the month, compared with the 4.7 percent rate in January. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate would remain unchanged.

The other closely watched number in the report, the average hourly wage, edged up 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $16.47, which was in line with forecasts of economists surveyed by Briefing.

Overall it was a relatively positive jobs report that struck a balance between jobs growth and inflationary pressures such as wage growth. Stock futures and bond prices both edged higher following the report.

The unemployment rate is based on a survey of households, rather than the survey of employers used to determine the gain in payrolls. The unemployment rate was up because even though the household survey reported a strong gain in jobs, it also showed 335,000 additional people in the labor force, as some who had stopped looking for jobs started seeking employment again.