Environmental Career Center – Helping people work for a better environment since 1980

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, March 9,  that employers added 227,000 jobs in February.  The unemployment rate remained at 8.3% primarily as confidence grows with more people entering the job market.   Additionally, employment for December and January was revised upward by 61,000 additional jobs.  The BLS reports that job growth was widespread, with gains in professional and business services (+82,000), health care and social assistance (+61,000) and manufacturing (+31,000) leading the way.

The unemployment rate averaged 8.9 percent last year, down from 9.6 percent the previous year.  Employment has increased 3.5 million since February 2010.  It’s looking better and better for Halftime in America as the economy gets stronger and more Americans get back to work.

Economists estimate that employers will add about 2.1 million jobs in  2012.  The estimate may be revised upward as nearly 500,000 jobs have been added in just the first two months of the year.   125,000 are needed each month to keep up with growth in the potential labor force.    This is the seventh month in a row in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more and the 24th straight month of U.S. job growth.