Slow and steady improvement is the outlook revealed in today’s report on jobs for the month of February 2012 from the U.S. Department of Labor. The economy added 227,000 workers to nonfarm payrolls in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, while the unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent. That’s the lowest jobless rate since February 2009, and down from a peak of 9.9 percent.
February’s payroll gain was down a bit from the 283,000 jobs added to payrolls in January, but that number was revised higher on Friday, as was December’s figure. Together, the revisions added 61,000 more jobs to the past two months’ gains. And payrolls have grown by 245,000 jobs, on average, for the past three months.
This is good news for President Obama and his administration as we move into the 2012 election cycle. Recent polls have shown jobs and economic recovery as the top priorities among likely voters. While the progress in jobs growth is not spectacular, the slow and steady growth demonstrates that the economy is is recovering. The February report reveals the third straight month of jobs growth.