The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in the month of February, according to figures released by the Labor Department on Friday, although the increase was not enough to bring down the unemployment rate.
The economy added 227,000 jobs in February, with an increase of 233,000 jobs in the private sector offsetting job losses in the public sector.
Additionally, the January spike in job creation was revised up to 284,000 from the 243,000 initially reported, while December's job growth figures were revised up to 223,000 from 203,000.
While most economists had expected the pace of job growth to slow compared to the previous month, the consensus had been that job creation would fall off even further to roughly 204,000.
The job growth, however, was not strong enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which held steady at 8.3 percent in February, in line with economist estimates.
Chris Low, an economist at FTN Financial, said, "The unemployment rate held steady despite a sizable increase in the labor force, and the increase in the labor force itself suggests improving confidence in the job market and a higher participation rate."
Much of the private sector job growth came in the professional and business services sector, which added 82,000 jobs over the month.
While roughly half, 45,000, of those jobs were in temporary help services, many economists view job growth there as a leading indicator of future hiring for permanent positions.
The health care and social assistance, leisure and hospitality and manufacturing sectors also saw notable job growth, while construction employment was little changed. General merchandise retail stores showed a loss of 35,000 jobs for the month.
The number of long-term unemployed, those out of work for 27 weeks or more, remained little changed at 5.4 million, accounting for 42.6 percent of the total number of unemployed.
The number of people who are underemployed, those who are working part time but are unable to find full time work, also remained little changed in February at 8.1 million.
Average hourly earnings edged up by 0.1 percent in February, slightly slower than the 0.2 percent increase in January and below the 0.2 percent increase predicted by most economists.
The average hourly workweek was unchanged in February at 34.5 hours, as predicted by most economists, although the average manufacturing workweek edged up to 41 hours.
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