Unemployment Holds Steady In February
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The unemployment rate remained unchanged in February after the economy added 227,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.
Economists had been expecting an addition of 204,000 jobs in February, but also expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. The balanced unemployment report reiterated a slow, but steady recovery from the Great Recession.
Still, in South Florida, where construction is key; the housing sector remained in a long-term slump.
In January, unemployment dropped to 8.3 percent after employers added 243,000 jobs. But, the Labor Department revised the number Friday to show that 284,000 jobs had been created in January.
The unemployment numbers would likely be better had governments at all levels not gone through borderline austerity in shedding jobs over the past few years.
For President Barack Obama and Democrats, as long as the unemployment rate is remaining steady or decreasing, it's good news politically. President Obama's advisers have long said that it would be difficult for him to get re-elected if the unemployment rate remained well above 8 percent.
Weekly jobless claims edged up last week by 8,000 to 362,000. The four-week average, which is typically a better indicator of unemployment, was unchanged and stayed near a four-year low.
